Little Pink Riding Hood and the Big Blue Cat
by Tchaifoxky
Summary: A cheerful girl hiding beneath a mysterious hood attracts the attention of a certain cat. Amu's life for 16 years was filled with nothing but grey villagers who gave Amu one emotion: hatred. But what happens when Amu steps outside of the town's gates and off the path? Will she meet another world of grey, or find something more?
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1**_

A teenage girl with pink hair and wearing a pink plaid cape with a hood was walking around her town. She hated the place. She kept her hood up so that no one could see her eyes and hair. The people there always ridiculed her for being different. Amu just wanted to escape from the dreary, cold town that trapped her inside.

Everywhere was the same. Thick, gray brick buildings with very little windows was throughout the town. The roads were made of gray brick, and the rest of the ground was just compacted dirt with no grass or flower to be seen. Not that Amu noticed, she didn't even know what a flower was. The only plant she had ever known was the thick trees that towered over the thick gray brick gates from beyond. There was just one muddy stream that ran under the wall to supply the town with water. All of their food was found in one little area where only the farmers were allowed to go. Amu didn't know what animals were, nor plants. She just received the ground up wheat and the morsels of meat from a delivery man.  
Everyone in the town was plain and wore just plain old gray dresses and shirts and pants. Emotionless expressions painted on their faces.

It wasn't always like that. When Amu was little, her mother, Midori used to tell her tales of how the town was once vibrant and lively, but that spirit was destroyed when a foreigner came and took over the settlement. Amu sighed, how she missed her parents. Her mother was born there in the town, Amu got her golden eyes from her. She had received her pink hair from her father side of the family who was a foreigner. Her father, Tsumugu had come to the town in search of a job. Midori and Tsumugu, when they met, instantly fell in love. But it wasn't to be. Just one month after the two married, a man came to power. This man destroyed every bright and happy thing, casting the town into grey darkness. All of the visiting foreigners were cast out. And Tsumugu, he was burned at the stake.

Amu was shunned by the people, and treated as an outcast and a freak. Her father was a foreigner, and she didn't have normal hair color, this labeled her as someone to stay away from. Every time someone looked at her, it was with cold contempt as if just looking at her left them with a bitter taste in their mouth. Amu was able to live with it for a while, as long as she had her mother. Her mother always looked at her with love and kindness. But her mother wouldn't be with her for forever. Half a year ago, her mother died when she received food poisoning. It was said to be an 'accident' but Amu knew better. She knew that the people had done that on purpose. Now Amu was left alone in the town.

Amu was walking along the walls of the town, wondering what life would be like outside of it when, "Amu Hinamori! We need you at the town center this instant!" Amu sighed and obeyed the portly woman who called. "Ok."

The town hall is about the most decorative in the town. Only one thing decorated it, in the very center, where the mayor stood, was an arrangement of bricks that were laid in the design of a hammer. A plain old simple hammer. That was it. That hammer satisfied the villagers, but Amu always wanted more.

Amu pushed her way through the thick crowd of gathering people. There stood the mayor in his gray suit, proclaiming to the crowds. "Villagers! Hear me! Our food supply has slowly been growing smaller as the amount of people increase! Therefor! I suggest that we have one villager sent off to retrieve that food! Not only that, but any child age 15 and younger shall be slaughtered." Amu was the only one in the crowd who flinched. 'Leave it to the mayor to think of a solution so barbaric. But maybe I could get sent to gather food.' Amu was excited, 'this would be an excellent chance to get outside!' She was interrupted from her thoughts when, "all children age 15 and under, step forward!' All that were did so, or were pushed. The younger ones were wailing for their parents, the older ones just let silent tears flow. That's when Amu felt a jab at her back, "that means you girlie! Go on! Step forward!" Amu turned around, and faced the man who had jabbed her, "I am not 15 or under." The man snarled, "you are too. Don't lie to me!" Amu smirked, "I'm 16 as of today, you big old bag of turnips!" Amu's eyes widened when she realized how loud she was being.

"Well, as your birthday present, why don't we send you to go get the food?" Amu looked up at the mayor, 'was he serious?' Amu straightened her back, "I'd love to." The mayor smiled, "good. Villagers, you escort them. My soldiers, carry the children to the slaughter house!" Amu's eyes widened, now even the older children were screaming and struggling. Before they had been emotionless zombies, but now that they were in the sight of death, their emotions tore free. It pained Amu to look, so she turned her head, but nothing could escape the sound of desperation that forced itself into her ears and rang even after the source was far out of hearing. Amu didn't like the kids, they treated her coldly, but that doesn't mean that she wanted them to die like this. She glared at the parents of these children as she passed through the crowd, but they seemed unfazed.

The mayor led her to the gates of the wall. He took out a plain iron key and unlocked the door. When he opened it, he shoved Amu through it. "Now don't come back until you have enough food for all of the villagers. And one warning, you better stay on the path, never step one foot off of it. If you do, I will personally kill you myself with as much punishment and torture as I can think up." Amu gulped at this, she had seen what the he had done to her father, and the mayor at the time had considered himself as being extremely merciful. Imagine what he would do when after all of these years he had become even more bloodthirsty and cruel.

In one swift movement, the mayor shut and locked the door. Closing Amu out of the world she had known for her whole life and in a new world. One which she had never imagined to even be possible. And thus started the story of the pink haired, golden eyed, pink-plaid caped girl, and her adventures in a totally new land.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2**_

Amu turned around, away from the brick wall and toward the new world which she would soon discover. The first thing she saw was a whole thick luscious green forest, billions of trees on each side of her. Amu looked around her, "so are these what trees are?" She reached forward to touch it, until she remembered. "I better wait to step off until I'm further away from that town." So with her bag in hand, she started forward on her journey.

As she was walking through the forest, she threw her hood back so as to better see things. Amu looked around, all she could see was still trees, but they were still amazing to Amu. A sudden chirping startled Amu, "what was that?" She listened some more, "it's a beautiful sound. I wonder what it could be?" A little furry thing burst out of the bush, and ran across the path, it's tail a cute little puff, it's long ears, floppy. "Aw, that's so cute!" Amu squealed. Amu stopped in the path, looking up to the sky, twirling around, letting nature surround her. "And to imagine, all this wouldn't have been possible if the town hadn't run out of food and it was my birthday." Amu sighed in happiness. Then she smelled the air, "ah, it's so fresh and pure!" Then she remembered that this was only part of the path, "I wonder what's on ahead?" And with that, Amu skipped on ahead. Thinking she was ready for whatever came next.

 _ **A few hours later**_

Amu was tired, cold, and hungry. The rays of the sun had just disappeared below the trees, casting the world in darkness. No light shone through the leaves of the tree, and Amu could just make out the path ahead. Amu looked around, scared. Her mother used to tell her stories about what could come out at night. Everything was scary now, every twig snap made Amu jump, every rustle of leaf made Amu shiver. "hoo hoo!" Amu jumped, and whirled around. There she saw a big, winged thing, with sharp golden eyes, glaring at her. Amu ran on ahead. "Keep going Amu, just keep going. Everything will be alright, just keep going." She had never seen such a scary place in her life. That's when she remembered, the children she left behind. "The horrors they face or are facing, this is nothing." That's when Amu's eyes narrowed to slits, "I will take revenge for you. I will not let your cruelly early death escape punishment." Amu, now rid of her fear, marched forward. Only occasionally jumping at an unknown noise. All the while, keeping the fate of the poor children clear in her mind.

 _ **The next morning**_

Rays from the morning sun streamed through the leaves, making spotlights on Amu's face. Slowly, she opened her eyes and sat up on her knees, looking around her. "I must have fallen asleep." The area was beautiful, it was a whole different look then yesterday and last night. The area around her was filled with a different type of tree than before. Before the trees were covered in what looked like green needles, now the leaves held large green fans. Amu looked at the ground and gasped. Beautiful patches of colorful plants spotted the ground. A vast variety of reds, pinks, yellows, oranges, whites, purples, and blues covered the forest floor. Bushes of green were covered in round balls of blue or red. It was tempting to Amu, she had never seen such things before. The color marveled and enchanted her. As if in a trance, she stepped one foot off the path, then another. She started to wander through the forest, not realizing she was off the path.

She was walking along, staring at everything she could, craning her neck this way and that, as she heard an odd rushing sound. Amu started to walk through the forest, trying to locate the source of the noise when she found it. A clear, blue rushing stream. "Wow, I never knew water could be so clear!" She knelt down and cupped her hands into the cool water, she took a drink from it. "Wow! So fresh, and…wow!" Her eyes sparkled with happiness, and her smile was wide and bright. She reached into the stream and took out a smooth, wet dark chocolatey-brown stone. She held it up, "it's so smooth and rich in color!"

That's when she heard something. Whatever it was, it was rushing through the forest at great speed. Clip, clop, clip, clop! Amu sat there, unsure of what was coming near her. That's when a big reddish-brown, four-legged animal appeared. Upon the creatures back sat a person, wearing metal clothing and a big clunky metal hat. As the horse went by, it suddenly stopped. The man whipped his head around and rushed at Amu. Amu, shocked, stood up, almost falling into the stream while doing so. The horse stopped right in front of her, and the rider swung himself off and put his visor up.

"What are you doing here?! It is forbidden to be in this area of the forest!" The man yelled. Amu cocked her head and gave the man a blank look.

"What did you call this place?" The man looked at Amu like she was crazy.

"I called this place a forest, a forest in which you are trespassing."

Amu didn't seem to hear this as she was looking about her, "so _this_ is what a forest is like. Mama was right, it's amazing. And to think, it was right outside those walls all this time, and I missed out on it."

"Are you even listening?!" The man was getting impatient.

"Oh, sorry, I wasn't. What do you need again?" The man growled and swung her over his shoulder and marched towards his creature and put her on, then swung himself up. Amu looked down at the creature she was on and petted the silky fur.

"What is this creature called?" Amu asked, wonder filled her voice.

"A horse, haven't you ever seen one?" The man was bewildered at this strange girl, he had never seen a girl like her before. Amu looked back at the man with wide, childlike eyes.

"No, I haven't," then letting the word sink in, "horse. So that is what this creature is called, a horse." Then without saying another word, she took in the rest of the surrounding as it blurred past her. Rushes of color flew by her, surprising Amu. She was in ecstasy, but that is no comparison to how she felt when she reached the town outside of the forest. Amu's eyes widened.

"Wow! This is incredible!"


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3**_

Amu looked about her as they through the town. White stone buildings with beautiful carvings above the doors and windows, made with the utmost care, and crafted with elegance stood tall and erect. Everywhere she looked, people on the roads were dressed beautifully. Women wore slim, colorful dresses with rich embroidery and fancy jewels hung around their necks and wrapped around their fingers and wrists. Their hair was done up in fancy styles, light makeup helped to bring out their beauty. The men were all tall and handsome, colorful pants and shirts, their hair short and well kept. Some wore swords at their sides. Amu had never seen people like this, all the villagers in her town were messy and gray and dull. None of them rarely cared about what they looked like.

"This is amazing! I've never seen anything like it!" That's when Amu noticed that people were looking at Amu, and everyone was making room for the horse and two riders. Amu looked at the people, and whispered.

"Why are they staring at us?" The man looked at her.

"Because you are a prisoner." Amu looked back at the man, fear in her eyes.

"Does that mean that I will be burned to death?" Her honey eyes filled with the horror of what she was thinking. Many villagers had recounted the story to her, using vivid language that made Amu feel as though she was actually seeing the terrible death instead of listening to it. Amu's fears were soon quenched.

"Nah, you'll probably just sit in a cell or do work. This country doesn't believe in death punishments. Where did you get that idea?" The chuckling man didn't receive an answer. Amu sighed in relief, then went back to the sightseeing. She was releaved that she wasn't going to die, that's when she saw a little kid say something to his mother.

"Hey mama! Look at her! Her hair, it's pink mama! See? See?" Amu unconsciously put up the hood of her cape to cover her hair. She didn't want people to talk about her hair yet. She remembered how kids in the village would taunt her for it, and adults would yank it. She really did love her hair, but others didn't. She let her eyes drift downward, not as excited to view the city as she had been. It was a beautiful city, but she right now, she found the fur on the horse much more interesting. She twirled her finger of one hand around the short hairs, and with the other hand, tugged her hood further down on her face, keeping it there. Eventually, Amu was interupted from her thoughts.

"We're here. Get off." Amu slid off the horse. Immediately, the man grabbed her elbow and dragged her into the castle. She looked up at the man, who once had a kind look on his face but now it was replaced with a stern, stony one. Amu shivered, his face, it now was just like the villagers' faces back home. 'Why did he change all of a sudden? What could be the meaning of it?' Amu looked anywhere but his face now, which ended up just being the red brick path. She was too scared to want to know where they were or what the place looked like.

"I found a trespasser, I'm bringing her to the prince." The man said gruffly. The guards moved aside and opened the gates. Amu just kept looking at the ground. She wasn't ashamed of herself, she didn't even know what she did wrong. All she knew was that she was being punished for doing something, and she was at least probably not going to die.

"Here we are." Amu took a shaky breath as she looked up. It was a door to the room, on the walnut wood wood door had a big cat carved onto it. The man rapped on it an it slowly opened for them. Amu took in a breath from nervousness. She started to fidget, 'will the prince be as ruthless as the mayor was? Will I be tortured instead of killed?' Amu's heart started to beat faster and faster, her eyes squinted, trying to make out what she could in the dark room. Finally, after what seemed like forever, a person called out from within the darkness.

"Come in, but make it quick."

"Of course my lord." The man in silver clothing harshly shoved Amu into the room, causing her to exclaim in surprise. The man ignored it though. When Amu was completely inside, she was then forced to her knees and her head bent down. Amu wasn't able to lift her head up to examine her surroundings, thankfully her hood still covered her hair.

"Don't be so rough with her, she might have done something wrong, but remember, she is still a lady."

"Of course my Lord. Sorry my Lord." The rough hand immediately pulled itselt away from Amu's shoulders and neck. Amu looked up at the prince, all she could see was his shadowy outline. She looked around the room. She could make out a large bed, an actual bed! That was all she was able to see though.

"Um, prince-sir, I'm not sure what I did wrong. Can you explain it to me? Also, where am I? What country is this?" Amu didn't mean to be rude, but apparently she was because she received a sharp blow to her back.

"How dare you speak to the prince, you lying piece of-"  
"Let me handle this, you are dismissed." The prince cut off the silver-clothed man. As soon as the silver-clothed man left the room, the prince turned to Amu and started to walk towads her. Amu flinched, prepared for a blow or some other way to end her life. Instead, "get up, you do not need to kneel in front of me." Amu looked up, surprised, 'But I-" "It doesn't matter, go ahead, stand up." Amu obeyed. "Wait for a bit, I'll let in a little light." The prince opened up the curtain slightly, and light flooded in. Amu could see the prince clearly now. He was tall, lean, muscular, and just completely extremely handsome in general. He had dark blue- almost black hair and dark blue eyes that drew Amu in. He wore black pants and shirt embroidered with silver. His cape was white with black fur around the rim. A black handled sword studded with sapphires hung at his side.

"So, can you tell me, what is this all about?" "Well, I was walking through the forest when-" The prince cut Amu off. "Were you walking on the path or through the actual woods?" "The actual woods, why?" The prince lifted his head slightly as though he had figured out what the problem was. "You do realize that those woods are strictly forbidden for you to go through? You're only supposed to be on the path." Amu looked away, "I'm sorry, I didn't know that it was forbidden. It was just so beautiful though, I had never seen so much color in my life." Ikuto eyed the girl, "well, I'll let you off partially since you didn't know better. But you did do it, so I will give you a small punishment." He walked up to Amu and took out a necklace and placed it around her neck. When it was placed the clover shaped lock pendent on it glowed. "There, this is your punishment." Amu looked down at it, she smiled. "It's beautiful! Wow, I didn't know an object could sparkle in so many colors!" She beamed at the prince, "Thank you!" The prince smiled back, "please, call me Ikuto. But this isn't just a necklace, it is a lock. This prevents you from leaving the castle without permission." He pulled out a key with a clover-shaped handle, 'I have the key to your lock, and only I can unlock it." Amu slightly nodded.

That's when something caught Amu's eye out of the window. She rushed over to it and looked out. She gasped, a smile on her face. She pointed to something outside of it, "please p-Ikuto, can you tell me what those are?" Ikuto went over and looked out, not sure what she was pointing at. "What are you looking at?" "See those beautiful colorful things out there, in those weird boxes near that thing spewing out water." Ikuto looked and was surprised, "those 'colorful things' as you put it are flowers. That 'thing spewing water' is a fountain. Haven't you ever seen one before?" Amu shook her head, still enchanted by the flowers.

Ikuto was bewildered by the odd girl, he reached up to touch her hood, 'why does she wear that thing anyways?' Amu touched her hood though and tugged at it with two fingers. Ikuto was tempted to ask about it, but he didn't want to intrude on her business.

Amu's smile slowly slipped off her face. Her one hand on the window fell limply to her side, the other gripped her hood still tighter. 'If only the kids could see this.' Ikuto placed his hand on the girl's shoulder, "you alright?" Amu turned around and gave him a smile, though it was clearly forced and fake. Then the smile turned true though when Ikuto offered to take her to visit the castle. "Wow, that would be amazing, thank you!" "May I ask your name my lady?" Amu nodded, "Amu Hinamori." "Ok, Amu, then come with me." Ikuto held out his arm, Amu took it, and they both walked out of the room. A girl with gray peasant clothes and a hood covering her hair, holding the arm of a rich, and open prince. (No wonder a few people stopped what they were doing and stared after the two).


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4**_

Amu was in wonder at all that she saw in the castle. The whole castle was vibrant and full of life. Amu twisted her hand this way and that, her golden eyes wide but her smile wider. She couldn't believe her eyes; 'if I had heard of this place instead of seen it, I wouldn't have thought it was a story. I could never have believed that a place like this was even possible.' She remembered the days when she had wondered if all life beyond those walls of that town was just as boring and gray. 'Compared to this castle, the town is like death.' "Really now?" Ikuto looked down at her as Amu looked up surprised, she didn't realize that she had just talked aloud. "Oh sorry, just talking to myself." Ikuto stared at the girl, "so, where were you born?" Amu pretended to not hear then she saw something, "Oh wow! Look at that, what is it?" A huge rectangle that held a people on horses with metal sticks in their hands pointed at another group of people charging them who looked malicious.

Ikuto looked at it, "oh, that's a painting of a war we had against a group of people who came from the north who tried to destroy our people. Why?" Amu reached out and was about to touch it until the 'why' came, she looked back, her hand still raised up to touch the painting. "I've never seen one before. It's beautiful." Ikuto raised an eyebrow, "what do you mean?" Amu sheepishly laughed, "well, um, where I came from, we, uh, never had such things." Ikuto nodded slowly, still unsure about how to react, he thankfully didn't have to, "so, could you show me the rest of the castle? I'd like to see what other beautiful things are here." Ikuto smiled, "right this way."

Ikuto led Amu to the garden. She had been staring at it for a while, 'might as well show it to her, I have to keep up my appearance as a gentleman after all.' He walked her under an arched tunnel that had ivy vines entwining itself through beautiful wood. Amu looked about her, her mouth formed in an 'o' from happiness. Rays of scattered sunshine shone through the green leaves giving a dramatic effect. When they got through the tunnel, they were surrounded by high dark green bushes. Amu looked about her, "woah, what is this? Where are we?" Ikuto chuckled, "you are in a labyrinth right now, isn't it cool?" Amu only nodded. "Once we get through here you'll see the actual garden. I personally think the labyrinth is unneeded but my-" "I think it's wonderful," Amu interrupted. "It's so creative, to use these things in such a creative way." "Things?" Ikuto thought that Amu was blushing but it was hard to tell with her hood up. "Sorry, I've never seen these things before so I don't know what to call them." "Ah, I see, well, they're called bushes." Amu smiled at the word. "Well, I think these 'bushes' are really cool. I've never seen anything like them. They fill this place with color, and they give the garden a mysterious flare."

Ikuto was surprised by this girl, he had never seen anyone quite as unique as her. 'how does she not know what a bush is?' Amu had placed her hand on the leaves of the bushes and felt them. She was surprised how on the face of the fan-like thing, it was smooth, yet the edge was almost ticklish. "Ikuto," she pointed at the leaf, "what is this?" Ikuto looked at it, "a leaf." Amu nodded. She ran the word over and over through her mind so that she wouldn't forget it. That's when she saw it, a light at the end of the labyrinth. As she neared the end, she saw tall, fancy white marble columns with fancy decoration at the top. Then the labyrinth opened up to reveal the actual garden.

It was amazing, around her were tall brown column like things with green leaves at the top, then flowers of all colors, shapes, and sizes circled around a fountain spewing crystal blue water. Amu pointed at the tall brown columns and asked what it was, "a tree." Amu looked up, then got an idea. She slightly hiked up her knee-length dark grey skirt and started to try to climb the tree. The prince looked at her, amused. "And what do you think you're doing?" "Climbing this tree, what does it look like?" Ikuto looked up at her, "do you even know how?" "Nope," Amu replied, popping the 'p'. Ikuto rolled his eyes, "you're going to get hurt." "Nah, it won't hurt." "Even if you fall?" 'Nope, there is always worse." Amu slightly shivered, remembering how the townspeople would throw grey stones at her if she got too near their children. Amu kept climbing, it was coming quite naturally to her, and soon she reached a branch in the middle of the tree and sat on it. She smiled down at him, "that was fun, I wish we had trees back at home." Ikuto cocked his head slightly, "so you didn't have trees in your town either?" "No, I saw them outside the walls but no one talked about them." Amu shrugged, "but I know what they are now, that's all that matters." Amu smiled down at the prince, then she looked around, something caught her eye and she leaned forward to get a better look at it.

CRACK! The branch snapped and Amu came tumbling down with it. She saw what was happening but couldn't do anything about it. Her eyes widened, she stretched her hand out for a branch but it was too late. She shut her eyes, preparing herself for impact, it never came. She slowly opened her eyes a crack, then widened when she saw who was staring straight down at her. Deep blue eyes were staring down at her with a worried look. Then she saw who owned those eyes… "AH! I'm so sorry!" She jumped out of his grasp. "You scared me there." Amu felt her cheeks heat up slightly, "y-you were worried?" Amu looked at him, her golden eyes big with hope and happiness. "Yeah why is that wrong?" Amu smiled, "I just never thought that I would ever see someone other than my mother who would be worried about me. It makes me happy." Ikuto looked at her, "huh, seems like you didn't have a happy childhood." Amu looked at him, she smiled but her eyes showed her true feelings, "Nah, it was ok. There is always worse."

Amu walked over to the fountain, "how to keep the water so clean here?" Ikuto looked at her, "the water comes from natural springs, I'm not really sure how it works though." Amu looked at him, "why not?" "I don't have the time." "Well then, why don't we go find out right now? You are the prince after all, I heard from my mother that most princes make it their business to try to find out as much as they can about their kingdom. Why not try it out?" Ikuto looked at her, then shrugged, "why not?" Amu smiled, she grabbed his hand and together they walked to the water manager of the castle.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5**_

Amu was running on ahead, they had just talked to the water manager of the castle, he told them to go visit this man in town, the real man behind the operations. "Go to the edge of the town near the river and you will find a little house, that's where he lives." So following those directions, Amu and Ikuto traveled to the water keeper's house. A few times, Ikuto almost lost Amu in the crowd of villagers. Fortunately, the people didn't recognize Ikuto without his cape. Now he was just wearing his normal adventuring clothes and a sword at his side. **(like Zero's clothing in the first episode of Snow White with Red Hair)** As long as Ikuto could see Amu, things were ok. Well, until he actually lost her.

Amu was excited to see everything; it really was a beautiful town. She was so focused on the buildings and color around her, that she didn't notice that someone was after her until it was too late. A hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her over to the side. She was now in a dark alleyway. She looked up and saw two men looming over her, staring at her. Letting their eyes roam over her body. She felt a little nervous, she wasn't sure who the men were or what they were doing, but she couldn't stop the feeling of uneasiness.

"Hey, she looks pretty. Should we sell her, or should we keep her for ourselves?" One of the men asked the other. The one who just spoke wore dirty brown pants, a ruffled red shirt with long black hair and muddy black boots. The other wore tattered black pants, a wrinkled green shirt with dirty-blonde hair that fell to his shoulders in a knotty mess, his boots were muddy black boots as well. Amu backed away from them and tried to struggle out of the dirty-blondes grip.

"Hmmm, good question, I suggest we have a little ' _fun_ ' with her first, then when we're sick of her, we can sell her." Amu gulped, the way he said 'fun' didn't sound good.

"Yeah, good idea." The long black haired one shoved Amu against the wall. He leaned in to her face, his breathe reeked of the alcohol that Amu was all too familiar with back in her old town. He lifted one hand up to the wall, blocking her from being able to escape. His other hand lifted up her chin, then his hand started to move down. Amu was shivering, she was whimpering. 'What is he doing?' That's when someone shouted:

"Hey! Get your hands off of her!" Amu's eyes shot open, Ikuto was standing there. She smiled at her savior. The man lifted his hands away from her and turned towards Ikuto, a scowl on his face.

"This little lady is mine, so just mind your own business. If not, we might have to hurt you."

"I'm afraid that that's not going to happen." Ikuto took out his sword, the men took out their knives and prepared themselves for a fight. That was when Ikuto lifted his sword horizontally to show the men something on it. The men gasped, their eyes widened, and they backed away.  
"No way!" The dirty-blonde just made out.

"Let's get out of here!" The other shouted. They both scrambled away, like frightened mice. Amu sighed with relief as soon as the thugs were gone. She looked up at the prince, her golden eyes bright with happiness.

"Thank you Ikuto, I appreciate it," but then she turned her eyes away, "but why did you help me?" Ikuto looked at the girl. He smiled, he couldn't resist what he was about to do. He walked up to the girl, grabbed her shoulder gently, and whispered on her ear:

"Because you belong to me." Amu's eyes widened, her face now as red as a strawberry. Thankfully, her hood hid most of her face.

"I-Ikuto! You don't own me!" She stammered, Ikuto smirked.

"Are you sure about that? You are a prisoner after all, in my opinion, that's just like being owned. What's wrong though? Most other girls would love for me to consider owning them." Amu looked away, her blush still bright on her face.

"Most doesn't mean all. Although, I am still grateful that you saved me," suddenly her voice changed tone again, her blush now gone, "but why would men do something like that? And what _were_ they doing? I never experienced anything like that in my village." Ikuto turned away, his smirk gone, when he answered, his tone was serious again:

"Who knows why they were doing that, and honestly, you don't want to know what they were planning to do with you. Just understand this, if anyone other than me say stuff similar to what they said, or do something similar to what they were doing or how they were acting, get out of there as fast as you can. When I become king, I will do my best to fix that problem, but for now, just be careful." Amu looked at him, he could only see her eyes, but they were wide.

"And if _you_ do that?"

"If it makes you uncomfortable, I'll stop. You can trust me; I won't hurt you Amu." Amu looked up at him, and smiled. She had never seen someone who was so kind, although it still bugged her that he said that she belonged to him. That's when she felt someone tug at the lock necklace. Ikuto was tugging at it, his face extremely close to hers.

"See, for as long as this lock is on you, it's a sign of proof that you are mine." Amu's blush came back again. Then Ikuto pulled out a key, "and only I can let you go." Amu looked away, her blush bright.

"Anyways, let's go to the water keeper now, ok?" Amu rushed. Ikuto let go of the lock and straightened up.

"Alright, let's go Amu." Ikuto smiled at the girl. 'definitely different,' Ikuto thought, 'most girls would be all over me, but I think it's cuter that she tries to ignore her blush. I might not be able to completely see her face, but I can tell that she's blushing, like a strawberry.' He then held out his arm:

"This time, I don't want to lose you." Amu nodded and took his arm. She really didn't want something like that to happen again. She got lucky that Ikuto was there this time, but he might not be there if it happened again. Amu sighed, and clung onto his arm a little tighter as she thought about what the men were doing, it really was scary even though she didn't know what they were doing. Ikuto looked down at the girl, he saw that her skin was a little pale.

"Don't worry, I won't let that happen again. I'll protect you." Amu looked up, her eyes happy and grateful.

"Thank you Ikuto." She felt safer now that Ikuto had promised that. So together, they went to meet the water keeper.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6**_

Prince Ikuto and Amu were walking along the path to the water keepers house. They were out of the busy part of the town, and the path was empty. On either side of them were valleys of beautiful flowers, shining in the fiery light of the setting sun. Amu looked around her:

"Wow! It's so beautiful!" That's when she felt someone bump into her and shouting in the distance. Amu stumbled back a little and looked at a girl about her age sitting on the ground. The girl had peachy-orange colored hair and matching eyes. She was rubbing her rump and glanced up at Amu. Then the shouting grew louder:

"Hey, she's over there! Get the thief!" The girl jumped up and ran behind Amu.

"I'm so sorry, please help me!" Amu looked back at the girl:

"Don't worry, I won't let them get you." That's when a mob of people came up to them, angry, and wielding pitch forks and hammers.

"Hey, are you in league with this thief?" One asked.

"If so, we'll hurt you to!" Another added. Ikuto stepped in front of the two girls, his sword out, showing them who he was.

"Leave these two alone. If you hurt either one of them, you will be punished. Let me handle this situation and I will deal with this girl's punishment with justice." Although it was reluctant, the mob nodded their heads and went away. Ikuto sighed and put away his sword. Amu turned to the girl.

"May I ask who you are and why those people were after you?" The girl nodded with tears in her eyes.

"Thank you your highnesses for saving me! My name is Yaya. They were after me because I stole a piece of bread from them. You see, my parents and little brother died not too long ago, and I needed the food. I didn't think that they needed it, so I took it." Amu nodded.

"I see, don't worry," that's when Amu got an idea, she snapped her fingers and, "how about you become my companion!" Yaya looked up, happiness in her eyes. Ikuto looked unsure.

"I don't think-"

"Oh come on Ikuto, you're great and all, but it's nice to have a girl to talk to." Amu gave him the puppy-eyes. Ikuto sighed, he couldn't resist the look she was giving him.

"Fine." Then he whispered in her ear, "as long as I get a kiss for my kindness afterwards when we're alone." Amu blushed, but nodded. So they continued on the path. Yaya had a feeling about the two so she ran on ahead to give the two a little time together. Amu smiled at the girl; she turned to Ikuto.

"So Ikuto, you seem awfully quiet."

"Why don't' you go talk with your companion?" The way Ikuto was pouting made Amu smirk.

"Oh, you jealous?" Ikuto looked at her, then suddenly but gently grabbed her shoulders.

"I'm not. Just remember who you belong to." Amu laughed. Ikuto looked at the girl like she was crazy.

"What's so funny?" He was a little mad.

"Oh, sorry Ikuto. It's just that you made it sound like you thought it was possible for me to fall in love with another girl." Amu kept on laughing. Ikuto blushed, 'of all things to twist, she somehow twists what I say into _that_.'

"But I'm serious Amu, just remember, you are going to still spend the most time with your owner got it?" Still chuckling:

"Alright, alright. I've got it Mr. Jealous. Who knew you could be so possessive." Then laughing, she ran on ahead before Ikuto had time respond.

About ten minutes later, they were still walking. Amu and Yaya were chatting away, Ikuto…well, the prince was pouting.

"So, I told you my name, but what yours my lady?"

"I am Amu, but please don't call me a lady, I am just a peasant." At that last part, Yaya looked at Amu, totally confused, and she dropped her formal language.

"Yaya wonders why Amu travels with the prince if she is not a lady." Amu looked away and tugged at her hood nervously.

"Well, um, you see, it's a long story, but to shorten it, apparently I did something wrong without knowing it. Instead of being thrown into jail, Ikuto thought it better for me just to have to stay with him." Yaya nodded, then stars appeared in her eyes. Amu backed away, thinking that Yaya was going crazy.

"It's the ultimate romance! The girl owned by the prince for a wrong-doing. The prince and the prisoner forced to stay together. The prince following the girl around. Eventually the prince and the girl falls in love, the prince lets the girl go. They get married and live happily ever after!" Amu backed away and started to stammer:

"W-what are you talking about? I- that- that can't happen! It's u-utter n-nonsense and c-craziness!"

"You just keep thinking that Amu, but Yaya knows. Yaya is never wrong when it comes to relationships. Besides Yaya knows that the beautiful Amu can't help but attract Ikuto. Just make sure that Amu at least makes Yaya godmother of one of her children." Amu started to blush.

"Yaya!" Said girl only chuckled while she lifted her hands and shoulders slightly:

"I'm just telling the truth here." Amu slightly whacked the girl on the arm. Yaya just started to laugh, and Amu couldn't help laughing as well.

That's when Amu spotted something off in the distance. It was a big brown hut with a wheel churning water attached to it.

"Guys! Look!" She started to run towards the house. Her smile grew wide as she stopped at it and looked down at the water rushing through the river. She knelt down on the river bank and cupped the crystal blue water in her hand. Yaya knelt down and did the same.

"Wow, so the water in the town is naturally clean!" Yaya exclaimed, wonder in the tone of her voice. That's until…  
"Hey kids what'cha doing to me water!" An old man came running out of the house, a cane in his hand, followed by five other young men. Amu and Yaya stood up, nervous. 'Did I do something wrong again?'

"Yo Prince Ikuto!" One of the young men spoke up. This man looked the youngest of the five, he had spiky brown hair, bright green eyes, a spunky smile, and light blue shirt and white pants, a sword hung at his side.

"Kukai, I thought I told you not to add prince to my name," Ikuto grumbled. Amu just looked at the man, confused. Kukai just seemed to notice Amu and Yaya, he walked to them and knelt.

"And may I ask who you lovely ladies are?" Ikuto just rolled his eyes. Amu was unsure, but he didn't seem vicious.

"I am Amu and this is Yaya. It is nice to meet you…" Another man stepped forward, he looked like the eldest and a lot like the youngest just bigger.

"He is Sir Kukai of the order of the cats. How do you not know who he is?" Amu blushed beneath her hood. She turned her head away. Luckily Ikuto intervened for her:

"She had a very sheltered childhood." Kukai stepped in as his brother was about to protest, he knew him all too well.

"It's fine Kaidou," then to Amu and Yaya, "just call me Kukai, girls." He held out his hand and gave them his famous goofy smile. Most girls would faint at that smile, but Amu was too oblivious to faint and Yaya wasn't paying attention. Kukai was surprised and Ikuto chuckled quietly.

"hem," Kukai coughed turning to Ikuto, "anyways Ikuto, what are you doing here? Did something happen, I mean, it is my day off." Kukai now looked a little grumpy. He did not like to interrupted from his time off. Ikuto chuckled.

"I'm actually not here to see you, I wish to see your adopted father, the water keeper." The old man stepped up at the mention of himself and looked at the prince with glee.

"Your highness, I didn't know that you were interested in the water in this town. So tell me, what do you wish to know?"

"Everything about the keeping of this water." Ikuto replied with charm. Amu secretly sweat dropped, 'it's not even 3 hours since he said I belonged to him, he really does have weird changes of personality.'

 **Please review and tell me what you think. So press it, I dare you. Press it. Press that wonderful joyful thing called the review button.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A special thanks to:**

 **Guest**

 **Black x Rabbit**

 **lolitathegoddessorca860**

 **I really appreciate the reviews**

 _ **Chapter 7**_

It was close to nightfall when the water keeper and Ikuto were done talking. Yaya was fast asleep on the ground and leaning on Amu's shoulder. Amu was listening to the conversation but starting to nod off. Ikuto looked at the two.

"Thank you Mr. Souma for all of the information," then turning to Kukai, "hey do you think you can help me bring these two back to the castle?" Kukai looked at him and nodded:

"Sure, I know you can do a lot, but I don't think carrying two sleeping girls is one of them." Kukai chuckled and quietly and gently picked Yaya up and placed her on his back. Ikuto picked Amu up bridal style and the two men started to walk towards the castle.

Ikuto looked up at the sky, the sun's rays were now almost completely gone and the stars were just beginning to come out. Slowly each star became brighter and more distinct. Soon it was only their light that allowed them to travel safely along the path. Ikuto looked at Kukai, whom he could barely see but just enough:

"Hey Kukai, do you know if all of the cats are going to be at the meeting tomorrow? I want to talk about something important-" Ikuto was cut off when he saw that Amu was slowly waking up. Her golden eyes opened up:

"Where am I?" she mumbled sleepily. Ikuto looked at what little of her sweet face he could underneath her hood, and smiled.

"Don't worry about it Amu, you're safe. Just keep sleeping." Amu didn't say anything as her eyes slowly closed again and she unconsciously snuggled closer to the source of safety and heat, which just happened to be Ikuto. She snuggled her face into the crook of his neck and her hands clutched together on his shirt. She looked so small, so fragile, and so mysterious. Kukai looked at Ikuto, an eyebrow raised.

"So, is this girl your fiancé or something? I've never seen you act in such a way to girls before. Did she do something to you? Do you have a fever?" Ikuto would have hit the guy, but Amu was in his arms at the moment, and if he hit Kukai, he might jostle Amu. Instead he just glared:

"Please, I'm only doing this because she belongs to me. Ever heard of treating your property with care before?" Kukai only rolled his eyes, 'He should consider himself lucky that the Amu is asleep at the moment.' He then looked behind him at the girl on his back, 'Yaya reminds me of the little sister I never had.'

"So, how did you come across Amu in the first place?" Ikuto's eyes glazed, staring at nothing ahead of him on the path. He told Kukai of the whole encounter. After Ikuto had finished:  
"I wonder where she's from. Do you know anything about the towns along that path?" Ikuto shook his head:  
"I do, but there are so many towns along that path. It's almost impossible to figure out what town she's from. I doubt she'll tell me though. She seems trusting, but you can tell that she knows how to put up a strong barrier. I sometimes wonder how many of the feelings she shows are real or acting. I won't force her to tell me though, she'll tell me if and when she's ready." Ikuto smiled, a kind and gentle smile that he rarely showed. Kukai looked at him, surprised to see his friend and prince smile, causing him to smile widely. That's when he looked ahead:

"Looks like we're at the castle. Your parents probably won't be too happy with you." Ikuto rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." But Kukai knew that Ikuto didn't really mean it, so he just chuckled. He set Yaya down gently and walked up to the door and was about to- BANG! The door was thrown open and poor Kukai was smacked in the face and sent flying.  
"Ikuto!" A woman's voice yelled from the inside. Ikuto looked nonchalantly at the girl with blonde pigtails and violet eyes. Her dress matched her eyes and had beading and jeweling on the top that trailed down her right side that was in the design of butterflies. Her lips pulled down into a frown.

"Yo Utau, what's wrong?" Ikuto greeted the girl.

"Don't you 'yo Utau' me! Mom and Dad, well just Mom, was worried sick. Honestly, where were you? Don't you realize what could have happened ?!" That's when Utau noticed Amu in her arms and Yaya on the ground. She sighed.

"You boys really are stupid."

"What? Amu is my little prisoner at the palace and we have Yaya here as her-" Utau cut the prince off:

"That's not what I meant you idiot! What I mean is not only were you walking but you were walking with two women! You know how much of a target you made yourself?" Ikuto looked away, he didn't want this conversation anymore. He just sighed and walked inside. 'Prince this prince that, is that all that people care about? Do they ever think about me as just plain Ikuto?' Ikuto didn't notice he had reached the door that opened to Amu's room until he almost ran into it.

Amu's door was almost a plain mahogany door except for the little designs of a heart, spade, club, and diamond. With difficulty, Ikuto opened it and walked into the room. It had peach colored walls and the bed was black wood, with one set of light pink almost sheer drapes hanging over the place where her head wood be. The actual sheets were a dark pink. Ikuto slowly lowered Amu down and placed her underneath the sheets. After one last glance, Ikuto walked out of the bedroom to leave Amu to her peaceful dreams. Or so he thought.

 _ **Amu's dream**_

Amu was walking around the beautiful garden. Everything was so calm and peaceful, yet so bright and vibrant. Then suddenly, the beautiful world around her was plunged into grey. The garden setting was the same except not. Everything had lost its color, the fountain's flow of water slowed until it was no longer there. The flowers began to wilt everywhere she turned. Slowly the pillars surrounding the garden started to crumble. Ikuto, Yaya, and Kukai walked out from the shadows, but they were different as well. Their eyes were now dull and lifeless. They just stood there, limp like puppets. Amu wanted to run up to them, but it seemed like a glass cage had been placed around her, making her unable to run to her friends. Her voice seemed to have stopped working. She was banging on the invisible glass but not a sound was made. That's when a man suddenly stepped out of the shadows. The mayor.

"Oh Amu, you brought this upon yourself you know. You just had to infect this town and this castle with your disgusting disease. You really thought that just because you escaped my town that means you escaped me? Well your wrong. Wherever you go, I will follow you, bringing my ways to every town you visit, corrupting it. You are a curse to everyone here. If you don't leave, I will drag you there myself to torture you in ways that were worse than I did your father, and I will keep you alive. Maybe I'll also torture your friends until you leave as well." Then the mayor's face twisted and contorted into a face that you couldn't even consider human. Suddenly the gray all around her was splattered with splashes of red, and her friends faces turned gruesome despair and misery painted all over their faces.

 _ **End dream**_

Amu shot up. Her breathing uncontrollable, sweat glistened on her face, her eyes wide with fear. All around her was nothing but silence and darkness. She feverishly gazed at the room around her, her head whipping to every corner as her eyes glance from side to side. Eventually her breathing slowed down and her head started to work again. 'It's ok Amu, just a dream. It's just a dream,' she tried to rationalize with herself. It didn't work.

Amu sighed and got out of hot stuffy bed and decided to take a walk around the castle grounds. Amu looked down at her clothes and realized that they were still the same as when she had left the castle. 'Thank goodness, otherwise I would have to walk around in a nightgown since it's too dark to change. That would be embarrassing, especially if someone is up as well.' Amu put the hood up that must have fallen down in her sleep. Amu quietly padded over to her door and slowly opened it, wincing slightly at the quiet creak. Amu looked both ways, making sure she hadn't woken anyone up. 'I'd hate to wake someone up just because there is no way I can get back to sleep right now.'

As she walked the quiet hallways, she noticed how they looked much different in the dark than when it was day. As she walked, it reminded much of what her old village was like. Quiet, and dark. Amu didn't mind though, this was a different kind of quiet and dark, it was more…peaceful. She shivered at the memory of what some people would do to her when dark came. Amu hadn't realized that she had reached a balcony of the castle until she bumped into it. She looked out, this was the public balcony of the castle where all even maids (when they weren't busy) could go. She looked out, it was a beautiful sight.

She stared into the starry sky. She smiled, and whispered to them:

"You are lucky, you have freedom. No one can squash your sparkle, no matter how hard they tried. Even the villagers back home can't turn you grey." Amu sighed, but turned her eyes to the sky. A smile appeared on her face again, filled with awe. She couldn't help wanting to get closer to them. She climbed and stood up on top of the thick railing. She looked down and she noticed how far from the ground she was. She started to grow a bit dizzy. That's when she saw it, a fire. Right below her. Her vision started to go black. And Amu fell.


	8. Chapter 8

**Thanks you for reviewing:**

 **Guest**

 _ **Chapter 8**_

Amu fell off, but her hand was almost immediately caught. Amu slightly recovered her wits and looked up to see Ikuto. He helped to pull her up. As soon as she was safe:

"Are you crazy?" Ikuto whisper-screamed.

"Sorry, I hadn't meant to fall off. I just got a little dizzy." Ikuto looked at her. She looked like she was hiding something but Ikuto didn't press the girl. He then reached out. She flinched a bit until she saw what Ikuto was doing. He had grabbed her necklace and it was now resting gently in his hand. She looked up at him, confused. He just stared at it, then let his eyes rise to meet hers. Amu's breath caught in her throat when she met them. They were kind and gentle and seemed to pull her in. Then with the words Ikuto spoke, they became serious:

"Amu, you must never do such a reckless thing again." Amu chuckled slightly:

"You make it seem like it was my intent to fall off," her chuckle slowly faded, "but trust me when I say this, I is not my objective to do it again." Amu looked away, then her attention was drawn to the stars again.

"They're beautiful." Ikuto looked up at the stars.

"I suppose, but they get old after seeing them for 20 years." Amu looked at him,

"How could you ever get tired of them?" then she thought about it, "Well I guess I couldn't judge, this is my first time seeing more than two or three. These ones are much brighter than what I've ever seen as well." She tore her gaze away from the stars and smiled at Ikuto. Ikuto just stared at her, he might not have been able to see her face, but he was able to see enough to know that her smile was the sincerest smile that he had ever received from someone that wasn't his family or friend.

He bent over her and gave kissed her forehead gently. Amu was glad her hood was up to hide the tinge, no, the huge blush on her cheeks. She looked up at Ikuto with wide eyes. She just chuckled.

"You really are something my little strawberry. I'm surprised you haven't fainted yet, most girls do."

"W-why would I faint for you?" Ikuto smirked:

"Oh just because you know that I'm the hottest guy you've ever seen."

"W-what? N-no way! I've s-seen way hotter guys t-than you!"

"Really? Who? Come on Amu, you could at least say it to me as a thank you." Ikuto challenged. Amu crossed her hands over chest. Ikuto knew what the answer was, and he chuckled some more. Amu just puffed out her cheeks, then she got an idea. A faint blush tinged her cheeks, as she reached up and kissed the prince on his cheek. The prince looked at her shocked. She just back up, looking at him and her hands clasped behind her back.

"Think of that as a thank you." She smiled sweetly and she slowly walked back to her bedroom. Ikuto just stared after her, a slight pink tinged his cheeks. No one had ever done something like that before. He leaned against the railings and stared up at the stars, which seemed more beautiful tonight than they had ever seemed before. His thoughts were interrupted with"

"So that Amu girl seems to have caught your attention." Ikuto looked at the balcony doors and saw Kukai leaning against the doorframe. He turned his head slightly, smiling at the memory of the girl's thank you. He ran his hand through his hair.

"She's so different from other girls I've ever met. She always surprises me; I think she'll do one thing and she does the complete opposite." Kukai looked at Ikuto and smiled, 'you've finally found someone,' he thought to himself. Kukai pushed himself off from the door and walked over to Ikuto, clapping him on the shoulder.

"She's definitely special, if I were you, I wouldn't let her slip away." Ikuto looked at Kukai in confusion. Kukai sighed and rolled his eyes, 'when it comes to kingdom and fighting matters he's on top of it. When it comes to his love, he's as clueless as an elephant." Ikuto was still trying to figure out what Kukai just said when Utau walked went to talk to Amu.

"Hey Amu, that was a bold move you did." Amu looked up, surprised and blushing. A blonde girl with pigtails stood outside of her door. "May I come in?" Amu nodded:

"Of course! Umm…"

"Princes Utau, but just call me Utau." The blonde answered for her. Amu nodded. Utau walked in, and sat on her bed. Amu got out of it and sat down next to her.

"You're probably wondering why I came in here?" Amu nodded. "I wanted to know if you would like to attend the ball with me tomorrow?"

"Why me?"

"You seem like a fun and brave person who doesn't look at people for what rank they are but who they are on the inside. I like that. So, will you join me? It'll make the ball so much more enjoyable." Utau pleaded, her puppy eyes on. Amu, who had never seen puppy-eyes before couldn't resist.

"I guess I could, but could my friend Yaya come as well?" Utau nodded.

"Of course!" She squealed in happiness causing Amu to laugh. Utau started laughing as well. Then Amu's face became serious.

"But, what am I going to wear?" Utau just waved her hand:  
"That's easy, I'm getting my dress tomorrow at the Royal Shop. The seamstresses know my ways too well there and make an assortment of dresses beforehand just in case. I'm sure we can find a dress for you and have them alter it." Amu smiled and hugged her new friend.

"Thank you! I'm so excited!" Then a thought struck Amu. "Umm… what's a ball?" Utau just laughed.

"You clearly haven't had a proper childhood if you don't know what a ball is. Here, let me explain it to you. A ball usually is a gathering of people, usually rich. It's like a fancy get together of royalty and is sometimes used by the parents to help the child find a marriage partner." Amu nodded, understanding a little more. Then she smiled:

"While I don't think I want a marriage partner right now; I'm excited for the dancing part." Utau just laughed. The two spent the rest of the night talking about what could happen at the ball.


	9. Chapter 9

**Thanks for the reviews:**

 **Guest**

 **sme1228**

 **ishtars**

 **sara28**

 _ **Chapter 9**_

"Get up Amu we have to go get our dresses." Someone was shaking her, and Amu didn't like it. She sleepily batted the hands away, then snuggled deeper into her blankets. Her bed was so warm, and she was so tired.

"Just a few more minutes…" Amu mumbled before falling back to sleep. A tick mark appeared on Utau's head, and her eyebrow was twitching before:

"GET UP YOU LAZY BUM! WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" She grabbed Amu's ankle and dragged the poor girl out of the bed. Amu landed on the cold and hard wooden floors, jolting her awake.

"Ow, what was that for?" Amu whined. If Utau wasn't so rushed and angry she would have laughed at the poor, helpless, sad, dejected, and tired look on Amu's face.

"You have to get ready for going out and getting our dresses for the ball!"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Immediately Amu jumped up and started to run around like a fool searching for her hood which was on her head. Surprisingly the thing hadn't fallen off her head during her sleeping.

"I did." Utau grumbled. Amu, finally noticing her hood was on her, started to scramble around for clothes. Amu looked down.

"Ah! I don't have any other clothes! What am I going to do?" That's when she remembered, "Oh yeah, I did bring some extras." She got it out. The clothes were exactly the same as the ones she was wearing. She put it on, somehow managing to keep her hood on and up at the same time. The dress was grey and hung loosely around her. Utau looked at the dress.

"Do you want something else to wear?" Amu looked up and shook her head.

"I couldn't! These are just fine." Utau looked at the clothes than at Amu, then at the clothes again. She sighed and searched in a closet. She pulled out a gold belt.

"At least put this on." Amu took it, she nodded and put it snugly around her waist. It gave the dress a little more flare, plus with her hood on, it worked. After getting breakfast and doing other things, they were ready.

"Ok, now that we're ready, all we need is Yaya," Utau was looking around for the girl when suddenly.

"Yaya is here! Don't forget about Yaya!" The girl jumped onto Utau's back giving the princess a big bear hug. Amu laughed as she saw Utau struggling to pry the energetic girl off her back. Utau sent the hooded girl a glare. Finally after a few more seconds, Yaya let go.

"So, let's go get some dresses for that ball!" Yaya exclaimed, shooting her fist in the air. Amu smiled at the cute girl and nodded her head. Utau smiled as well as she asked one of the maids to have the carriage pull up to the front door. The maid bowed and went to do as she was told. After a few minutes, an announcer, called:

"My lady, the carriage is ready." Utau thanked the man and she grabbed the two girls arms and pulled them to the carriage. Amu and Yaya were shocked when they saw it. It was a shiny and sleek black with gold gilding. The wheels were gold as well. Yaya immediately squealed and rushed into it.

"Yeah! Yaya thinks this carriage is so fun!" Utau stepped in, and looked down at Amu, smiling:

"Well, you coming? If you don't hurry we might have to leave without you." Utau taunted.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Amu shouted, and hurriedly scrambled into the carriage so she wouldn't be left behind. Utau just chuckled. Amu sighed a breath of relief and looked around. The inside was just as grand as the outside. The seats were velvet and comfy. Then Utau brought up:

"Oh, by the way, this ball is a masquerade. That pretty much means we all wear masks so we don't know who is who. But you'll know who Yaya and I are." Yaya squealed with excitement. Amu was just plain confused.

"Am I missing something? Why is Yaya squealing?" Utau just rolled her eyes and smiled at her clueless friend.

"Yaya is squealing because it's romantic?" At Amu's even more confused glance Utau further explained, "just imagine. You and the man you find. He is so charming, and the mysterious. You have no idea what he looks like, yet you want to know. You want to know so badly. The only thing you can make out of the man is his eyes. Those beautiful eyes shining out of the mask like beacons of light. Those eyes that you stare at as you dance the night away. Then he leads you out onto the balcony and you share that secret kiss of love." Utau sighed in happiness her eyes up to the ceiling as she dreamed of that special kiss. Amu still didn't understand, but by the way Utau was acting she kind of got an idea. That's when the carriage stopped. Utau snapped out of her thoughts:

"We're here!" Utau then composed herself as she walked out of the carriage, Amu and Yaya followed her. As soon as Utau opened the door to the shop, the seamstresses all closed the blinds. Once the door was shut, Utau then dropped her composure, and she giggled with delight.

"Hi girls! How are you all?" The seamstresses all told Utau that they were fine. Utau led Amu and Yaya over to a girl with flowing dark purple hair tied up in a high ponytail.

"Amu, Yaya this is Nadeshiko; she's a good friend of mine. Her brother also is a knight for Ikuto and is in the order of the cat with Kukai. Nadeshiko is also going to the ball with us." Amu smiled at Nadeshiko, while Yaya had a more energetic response:

"Yay! Yaya gets a new friend! I'm so excited!" She leaped onto Nadeshiko causing the seamstress to chuckle. Once Yaya let go of Nadeshiko she scanned the three girls over. She snapped her fingers:

"I have the perfect dresses for you." Nadeshiko rushed over and grabbed three dresses from a rack. She then handed each of them to the girls, she next went over to a rack of masks and held the dresses up to them, comparing each one. She immediately grabbed three masks, she looked at them and satisfied, handed them to the girls to go try on.

Amu was handed a black dress with light pink beading that matched her hood. Her mask was made of silver satin and little pink diamonds and had little designs of strawberrys. Nadeshiko nodded her head in approval but something seemed to be missing. Then she found it.

"You need to take off your hood." Nadeshiko told her. Amu's eyes flitted about nervously. She wasn't sure that that was such a great idea.

"But- um-"

"You have to, otherwise it ruins the image. Remember, know one other than us will know who the girl. So please take the hood off." Amu sighed and took the hood off revealing her pink hair. Nadeshiko and Yaya and Utau (who had just gotten done changing) were speechless, than smiles slowly appeared on their faces.

"Wow! Yaya loves your hair! It's so amazing!"

"I think so as well." Utau nodded.

"See Amu, there was nothing to be unsure about." Amu smiled at the three girls. She was totally shocked though, she had never imagined that anyone other than her mother would love her hair. Than she looked at the other girls' dresses.

Yaya had on a puffy peach colored dress, with little white bows in cute places. Her mask was white satin with orange topaz and peach designs. Utau's dress was black with purpley-pink beading. A sash that matched the color of the beads was tied around her waist. Her mask was bronze colored satin with designs of blackberrys.

"Hey Nadeshiko, let us see your dress!" Utau ordered their friend. Nadeshiko shrugged like she didn't care but she failed with the smile on her face. She went to change, when she came back she was wearing a reddish-pink dress with a silver sash. Her mask was black with reddish-pink cherries on it. They all applauded when Nadeshiko came out, she did a little twirl and pretended to model it.

"That's beautiful!" The girls all squealed. Nadeshiko blushed and went to take the dress off so she could do the alterations to her friends' dresses. Once she was finished, it was perfect. The girls twirled around in theirs and hugged the seamstress. They were giggling like school girls in excitement, they just couldn't wait for the ball.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Chapter 10**_

All the girls were barely sitting down, letting Utau's maids get their hair ready. Nadeshiko, Amu, Yaya, and Utau were all jittery and giddy with excitement. Their dresses and masks were already on. Nadeshiko's hair was put into a high bun, Utau's hair was put into a side braid, Yaya's hair was put into two twin buns, and Amu's hair was left down. They observed themselves in the mirror, happy with their outfits.

"Alright! Let's go to that ball!" Amu shouted in excitement, raising her fist in the air. The other girls followed suit. They all went across the castle, and they stopped a little way away from the stairs.

"Ok, girls, you ready to make an entrance?" Utau asked. The other girls nodded, they realized they were late, that was the plan. They started to walk gracefully down the steps. As soon as they did, everybody stopped what they were doing and turned to look at them. Amu blushed under the mask. The other girls seemed unfazed.

When they reached the floor, Amu looked around her. She was completely overwhelmed. The dancing had started again, and almost everyone was dancing, the music was loud, and the colors were everywhere. She turned to her friends"

"Hey girls, I don't think I can do this." Amu was nervous, her heart was starting to beat faster, and she didn't know what to do. "I mean, I don't even know how to dance." Utau pinched Amu without even looking at her:

"Smile and you'll be fine. Most of the people here can't dance either so you won't stand out."

" _Thanks Utau,_ that _really_ helps," Amu responded sarcastically, although it really did help a little. She wasn't as nervous as before.

"Besides, we're wearing masks, so just relax and have fun," Nadeshiko told the rosette kindly. Amu smiled at the girl. Yaya needed her share too:  
"Yeah! Yaya thinks that you will be beautiful anyways! Just have fun like Yaya does!" Amu smiled at them all, in their own ways they all helped her.

"Thanks guys, you're right." Then with a determined look on her face, "Ok, let's go dominate the dance floor!" The other girls smiled and nodded with Yaya shouting:

"Yeah!" They all started to chat leisurely, but they had a plan. They were really appearing that way so men would ask them to dance. Sure enough, it worked. A man in dark green and silver clothes, his mask was made of ivory and emeralds. He walked up to Utau and bowed to her:

"May I have this dance my fine maiden?" Utau smiled and curtsied towards the man"

"You may." She took his arm and walked away. Her friends giggled, happy for their friend. It hadn't even been a full minute that Utau had to wait. Amu looked around, a big smile on her face. Now that she wasn't as nervous, she could clearly see the details of the room. The wood floors which were usually finely polished were ten times more. Hung between the marble pillars were silk banners with an emblem on them. It was a clover shape, each leaf was a different color, there was pink, blue, green, and orange. There were very large tables at the other side of the room, laden with food and drink. She was still observing the room when she spotted him. Yes _him_. She couldn't see his face very well, but he looked so handsome. By the way he was treating all of the girls surrounding him, he was a gentleman. His clothes were black lined with gold and handsomely outlined his muscular body and complimented it. (You couldn't _see_ the muscles but you definitely knew they were there) His mask was black with gold claw marks slashing across his left eye. It seemed like no one knew who he was, as she could hear that all the girls were asking his name. She giggled, then she noticed someone ask for her hand in the next dance that was coming up soon.

The man was taller than her by a few inches, but not as tall as Prince Ikuto. 'Wait, why did that come into my head?!' She brushed that thought aside as she accepted. It wasn't until they were walking to the dance floor did she get a good look at who asked her to dance looked like. His outfit was gold and white with ruffles. His mask was white with a gold crown at right corner. She didn't get much else of an examination of him, as the music started.

The music pulled her in, it had a Celtic sound **(think of Kingdom Dance from Tangled but with a darker beginning)** and started out a little slower. Amu and her partner were circling each other. One of his hands on her waist, and one of her hands on his waist. While she was totally into the music, she wasn't totally into the guy. That's when the music turned fast and almost uncontrolled. She heard of this music before, her mother told her about it. The other guests didn't really know what to do, they were not used to it. Amu just grabbed her all of her friend's hands, whose hands also grabbed their partners. She then showed them how to do it. Soon they were all dancing with the same passion and ease as Amu was. Eventually others started to get into it. Amu just encouraged them, then the music turned totally epic and Amu totally melted into it. She was completely absorbed by the thrilling music that surrounded her. A smile was on her face, and her pink hair flowed around her. While she was dancing, she didn't seem to notice the man who was following her around the dancefloor.

Just at the last bar though, a girl 'accidently' stuck out her foot and tripped Amu. Amu's eyes shut tight, embracing herself for the fall.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Chapter 11**_

 _ **Recap**_

Just at the last bar though, a girl 'accidently' stuck out her foot and tripped Amu. Amu's eyes shut tight, embracing herself for the fall.

 _ **End Recap**_

It never came. Amu slowly opened her eyes just as the last note played. All she saw were captivating sapphire eyes shining out of a mask. Her golden eyes widened behind her own mask. The man slowly lifted her up, his hand still on her waist. Amu curtseyed to the man:

"Thank you sir." Amu couldn't see his eyes anymore but she could see his lips, which were now smirking.

"You could thank me by dancing with me for a song or two." Amu blushed and looked away, 'but I guess I do it owe it to him. Besides, he isn't bad looking, and I do want to dance some more.' Still blushing, she looked at him, she was able to muster enough courage to not stutter thankfully:

"I guess I could give you two dances." The masked man smiled.

"Perfect, I'm honored to be given two dances with a pretty girl like yourself." While the compliment made Amu blush, she didn't want to be the only one to be called pretty.

"There are other pretty girls at this ball who would love to dance with you as well." The man's smile turned into a smirk.

"Maybe, but they aren't as beautiful as you. Besides, they are all the same. You on the other hand are different."

"Are you doing what others call 'flirting'?" The man laughed at this. Amu sheepishly smiled. 'Honestly, he is a very odd person. Much different than any of the people at the village. Actually, it seems like everyone here is different.' Then she thought about the children. She felt a little faint.

"Excuse me, sir. I-I'll be right back." She then hurriedly left the presence of the man and the ball. Thankfully there was a balcony far enough away from the ball to give her privacy, but close enough for her to quickly walk to. She pressed her hands on top of the railing, taking in deep breaths. Images of the children at the slaughtering house flashed through her mind. 'So wrong! How could you treat innocent children like that! SO WRONG!'

"What's so wrong?" Amu whirled around to see the masked man she left behind in the ballroom.

"What?"

"You yelled that something was 'so wrong'. What's so wrong? Not me I hope." Amu shook her head.

"Sorry, I didn't realize I was speaking out loud. It wasn't about you though. Just- just forget about it." The man said nothing but shrugged. Amu sighed and turned back to the rail. Her thoughts slowly returning to the children of her village.

"Um, sir?"

"Yes my lady?"

"I've been wondering this for a long time… what gives people the right to decide the fate of others. Why is it their job to decide who lives or dies?" The man must have been surprised by the question because it was some time before he answered.

"Pride. People believe they are better than others and have the right to live and others don't. It could also be that they don't truly appreciate human life. Whether you are unborn, a child, middle-aged, or old; it shouldn't matter. Everyone is entitled to life. But what made them think that way, how they got that pride or how they got so unappreciative of life, that I don't know the answer to. May I ask why you ask that question?" Amu just waved her hand to dismiss it:

"I was just wondering, that's all." Desperate to change the topic, "anyways, I believe I owe you two dances?" The man nodded and held out his arm. Amu gracefully took it and the two walked to the dance floor. Amu noticed that everyone was whispering, and a few ladies did not look happy. Thankfully Amu couldn't see their eyes, if she could, she would probably be burnt to a crisp.

Don't worry about them. They're just jealous of our hotness." Amu felt someone whisper, she could even feel his lips grazing her ear. Amu jumped back a little, her cheeks red. The man next her pretended like he didn't do anything. Amu just glared at him slightly before looking around for her friends. She spotted Utau with the guy from before. She also found Nadeshiko dancing with the guy whom Amu accidently ditched. It took a while to find Yaya but she eventually saw her standing over near the punch table with a guy who had forest green hair and a mask that had a katana on it. After finding the three, Amu turned her attention back to the mysterious cat claw boy.

"So Claw-" The man cut her off:

"Claw?" Amu shrugged sheepishly:

"Well you do have a cat claw mark on your mask. What other name can I give you?" The man smirked:

"How about Kitty?" Amu blushed like mad.

"W-what?! I can't call you that Claw!" 'Claw' sighed.

"Fine, Claw is better than some of the other names I heard from those girls." Amu was curious as to what the other girls called him, but she didn't think that she truly wanted to know. That's when she saw someone, a lady, all alone with boys surrounding her. The poor girl looked quite distressed.

She walked over to the girl. The lady was easily half a head shorter than Amu. Yet this girl's posture told Amu, 'I don't care how short I am, I'm confident and can beat you to a pulp.' Amu smiled at the girl.

"Hey, do you need help with these boys?" The girl looked up at Amu with gratitude.

"Thanks, that would be helpful." Amu turned to the boys"

"Ok! You either find a different partner right now or I'll be forced to beat you all until even your mommy's can't recognize you." The men were gone sooner than you could blink.

"Thanks, my name is Princess Rima, but you can just drop the princess part." Amu smiled down at the girl.

"Ok Rima, your welcome. I'm Amu, it's a pleasure to meet you." That's when Rima noticed Amu's hair.

"Your hair… it's pink." Amu blushed and lowered her eyes, her smile vanished from her face.

"Sorry, I know it's freak-"

"It's lovely. I've never seen such a beautiful color." Amu snapped her head up. Her eyes wide.

"You actually like it?"

"How could I not?! It's so original!" Amu smiled. She had never been complimented so much on her hair. She was so used to insults and curses about it. She had always thought all people hated it since it was so _different_.

"Thanks Rima, you don't know how much that means to me." The girls were quickly friends. They talked for quite a while until the mysterious man came.

"Didn't you say you were going to give me the honor of dancing two dances with me?" Amu sighed and nodded. Then the man turned to Rima:

"Ah, aren't you Princess Rima? You are staying here at the castle for a while are you not?" Rima nodded, then smirked:

"Don't let me keep you two from dancing. Go on ahead."

"Well if you insist." Claw gently took Amu's arm and dragged her to the dancefloor. Amu strained her head back at Rima and stuck out her tongue as if to say, 'I'll get you later Rima.' Rima only giggled in response. That's when a man with long flowing purple hair, quite close to the shade of Nadeshiko's hair walked up to her. His mask was silver with masculine spring flowers on it.

"May I have this dance?" Rima thought for a second. She didn't really have an excuse not to, besides, she was bored.

"Why not?" She shrugged. She then accepted his arm and they walked to the dance floor.

Meanwhile, Amu was unsure about what to do. She remembered that she couldn't dance. That little dance before was different, she already knew how to dance it. This was different, she didn't know any formal dances.

"Um, Claw?" The man looked down at her.

"Yes my Strawberry Lady?"

"Strawberry Lady?" Claw chuckled,

"What? You're calling me by my mask, why not do the same for you." Amu rolled her eyes, 'this guy.'

"Whatever. Anyways, Claw, I just wanted you to know… um…."

"Yes?"

"Ican'tdance," Amu mumbled quickly, blushing from embarrassment.

"Sorry, didn't catch that." Amu took in a deep breath and made sure she said it slowly and enunciated:

"I can't dance." Ikuto just waved it aside.

"I doubt that, I have eyes. I did see you dance spectacularly in that-"

"That was different. I was taught that one. I've never done an actually formal dance before." Claw looked down kindly at Amu. A small smile forming on his sweet lips. 'Woah, did I just think that?' Amu scolded herself.

"That's ok, I'll teach you." Amu looked up, hope sparkling in her eyes.

"Really?" Claw nodded.

Really my Strawberry Lady. Trust me." He then led her to the dancefloor. Amu felt like a bubble of joy was in her chest. Her golden eyes were bright with a happiness that no one could destroy.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Chapter 12**_

Claw led Amu to the dancefloor. He then gently placed her hand on his shoulder, grabbed her other hand, and then gently held her waist. Amu blushed when she noticed how close together they were. She blushed even brighter when Claw leaned down and whispered:

"See, not so hard. Although, your heating up the room with your blushing." This caused Amu to blush even more, that's when she noticed something, 'funny, Claw acts just like Prince Ikuto.' But she brushed the thought aside by, 'nah, it can't be Ikuto. If it had been, Claw would have said something about owning me by now.' She smiled up at the masked man. But she couldn't completely rid her mind of Ikuto. He kept flashing into her mind.

That's when the music started. It was a romantic waltz. Claw easily led her throughout the dance floor. It was a bit tricky for Amu at first, but she easily adjusted to it. She smiled as she realized that it was now coming naturally for her. Claw and Amu were soon doing spins and lifts.

"You're getting the hang of it! You're quite natural with it. I'm surprised. Not many people can keep up with me." Amu smiled up at him.

"It's really fun! I've never danced like this before." That's when Amu thought about it. "Actually this is only about the third or fourth time I'veever danced. Claw looked down, shock evident by his mouth and the tone of his voice:

"You can't be serious!" Amu nodded, showing that she was perfectly serious. Claw only gaped at her. She smirked:

"You know… if you keep your mouth open like that, a fly is going to enter it." Now it was Claw's turn to smirk.

"I can think of a better think to enter into my mouth." Amu blushed and looked away.

"W-whatever, you wish."

"Who said it was you? Do you really want that? Wow Strawberry, that's not very ladylike." Amu looked away.

"Shut up would ya? You're ruining the dance." This only caused Claw to laugh. Amu sighed and smiled too. That's when Claw surprised her by doing a complicated spin and lift. This caught her off guard but Amu quickly caught on.

"You know, if you were trying to surprise me, you need to make things a little harder." Claw smirked.

"Careful what you wish for." Soon they were dominating the dancefloor with their complicated dance moves. Each trying to catch the other off guard, but the other catching on quickly foiling the others plan. It really was beautiful. Old rich noble-ladies were all whispering:  
"Oh what a cute couple. I remember when I did that when I was younger." Other younger ladies were glaring jealously at the Amu completely ignoring the men, and the men were glaring jealously at Claw completely ignoring the ladies. Claw's friends were smiling and high-fiving each other. Amu's friends were smiling and whispering about how cute the two were. Soon, it was just Amu and Claw on the dancefloor, completely absorbed by the music and the dance. As well as eachother.

Unfortunately, the song ended soon, and the two were separated by hordes of men and ladies asking for a dance.

"Please dance with me!"

"No! He's going to dance with me!"

"May I have your hand in this dance?"

"Ha! As if she would take your hand you loser. But she would totally take mine."

Amu and Claw were completely overwhelmed. Thankfully, their friends saved them. But sadly, the two were pulled away from each other. Amu had lost sight of Claw a while ago, but that didn't mean she wanted to. She oddly felt a little… 'is it possible that I actually feel… disappointed?' She struggled a bit until she was completely out of the crowd and she could see who grabbed her. It was Rima, Utau, Nadeshiko, and Yaya. She smiled at them all:

"Thanks guys, I thought I would be suffocated to death in there." That's when Utau saw Rima:

"Amu, who's that?"

"Oh? That's R- I mean Princess Rima. She's staying at the castle for a bit. She's really awesome Utau." Utau and Rima smiled at each other and shook hands. At the same time, they said:

"Well if Amu is your friend, then I'm sure we'll get along perfectly fine." Everyone giggled when they realized that they were completely in sync. Rima then shook hands with everyone else. Utau then got an amazing idea, it was perfect really.

"Hey girls, how about we all live in the same room together in the castle." Then seeing Nadeshiko's look: "yes you too Nadeshiko." Everyone laughed. They all agreed though. It would be fun. Like a big sleepover, but not. Amu then looked around for Claw.

"Oh, you looking around for your lover?" Rima jested. Amu blushed.

"W-what?! It's not like that!" The girls all gave her looks that said, ' _sure_ Amu.' That's when the bell chimed midnight, and King Aruto and Queen Souko stepped out onto the balcony above the ballroom.

"The ball has ended. Thank you for attending, we hope you enjoyed your stay and the dances. Good night." The king announced. Everyone applauded in response. Amu smiled, she noticed how Utau looked a lot like her mother, while Ikuto looked more like his father. 'Ikuto….. Wait! Don't think of him!' Utau smirked when she realized what Amu was thinking about. Which didn't take very long since Amu is so readable. After the king and queen exited the balcony, Utau pulled her friends to her room.

Thankfully her room was big enough for five king sized beds and there was still room for tons more stuff. Her closet also had a lot of room in it for more clothes, but that wasn't necessary for there were multiple sizes of everything, enough sizes to fit all five girls.

"So, we don't have any more queen sized beds, but we can put two or three girls in the bed and the rest can go on the floor until we get more beds. I'll sleep on the floor." Amu and Nadeshikok shook their heads:

"No, you Utau and Rima and Yaya can sleep on the bed. Nadeshiko, is it ok if you sleep on the floor with me?" Nadeshiko nodded her head:

"I wouldn't have it any other way." It took a while to convince the others, but once they did, everything worked out. They all changed into night gowns. When Rima took off her mask the other girls squealed:

"You really are cute!" Amu was the last one to change. She was to busy remembering that night to pay any attention. She eventually got it done. They all said good night, and the candle was blown out. Amu fell asleep almost immediately, dreaming about the masked mystery, and the teasing royal.


	13. Chapter 13

_**Chapter 13**_

Amu was awoken in the middle of the night by a scared Rima. Amu was groggy for a bit until she saw that Rima was shaking, a few tears falling down her smooth porcelain cheeks. Amu instantly got up and put a hand on Rima's shoulder.

"What's wrong Rima?" Rima sniffed:

"I had a nightmare… about my parents. They were talking about getting a divorce and how they hated me." Amu hugged the poor girl. And quieted her down:

"Shh Rima, it was just a nightmare. There is nothing to worry about." Rima just hugged Amu, her shaking quieted slightly. Amu didn't know what else to do; she had never experienced emotion like this from other people at her village. She only knew the love of her mother, she had never seen any other people comfort others. Amu remembered how instead of hugging their scared children, they just pushed them to the slaughter house. Amu pushed that thought aside as Yaya started to grumble in her sleep as well.

Soon they all were. Amu was a little confused, until she heard her stomach grumble. As the girl's all slowly woke up, they nodded in understanding. They were _really_ hungry.

"I'm guessing you didn't eat at the dance either?" All the girls nodded. Amu turned, confused, to Yaya:

"I thought I saw you at the food stand?" Yaya blushed.

"Well, I was a little busy." Amu nodded in understanding, and made a little smirk.

"I see, so you were too interested in the guy talking to you to actually eat." Yaya's blush became even brighter, she stuttered:

"W-what? N-no i-it's not l-like that!" Amu and the other girls only laughed. They immediately ceased when everyone's stomachs growled. Amu quickly slipped on her hood, and they all sneaked off into the kitchens. Trying to stifle their giggles and not wake everyone up. Utau had told them what happened if the cook caught you stealing food in the middle of the night. They were going out all ninja style, and Yaya was definitely making the most out of it. Not surprisingly, Amu made the least amount of noise of the bunch, and easily slipped in and out of the shadow without a noise. She had done things like this before, so for her it was easy. She played along though, the others seemed to be enjoying themselves and she didn't want to ruin their fun.

Finally, they made it to the kitchen. Yaya went straight for the sweets, Utau went for anything with noodles in it, Nadeshiko went for some fruit, Rima went for some steak and sparkling juice, and Amu went with a few pieces of bread that were left over. The other girls offered her more, but she declined. She was thankful with the multiple pieces of bread, back at the village she was lucky to get one piece of bread. After they had eaten, they totally forgot about going back to bed, until they heard footsteps.

All the girls rushed into hiding spots, scrambling about. Eventually the other girls were in great hiding spots, Amu was left with none. She sighed and made a few graceful jumps until she was in the rafters of the ceiling. There she stood, in the shadows, trying to stay out of sight. She looked down and could see Utau staring at her in awe from her hiding place. Amu looked over as the door slowly opened. An eye peeped out from the other side, surveying the room. After a few seconds, it slowly opened, Amu held in her breath.


	14. Chapter 14

_**Chapter 14**_

The door slowly opened to reveal… Kukai? It widened even more to reveal Ikuto and three other men as they cautiously walked into the room. Amu breathed out a sigh of relief. Until:

"You can come out girls, I know you're there," Ikuto called out. Slowly, all except Amu came out of their hiding spots. Amu decided to stay out of sight for a while. The smirk on Ikuto's face made her suspicious. 'Claw and Ikuto really are quite alike.' That's when Ikuto looked right at her, straight at her, and smirked:

"I know you're there Amu." Amu shrugged, she was caught, there was nothing to do about it. She easily jumped down from the rafters, did a flip while she was coming down and landed easily, crouching slightly for the landing, like a cat. All the boys, except Ikuto, jumped back. Surprised.

I'm not surprised you saw me. It was a terrible hiding place that I made in the last minute." Ikuto smirked.

"Tell me about it." Then Utau stepped up:

"How _did_ you get up there." I shrugged, and showed her. They all, even Ikuto, stared at me in awe. I shrugged and jumped down again. Amu stood up and noticed how the light from the fireplace shone a handsome, almost heavenly, light onto the prince's face. She stared up at him, then shook her head from the thought, unconsciously, she gently held the lock on her neck. Utau noticed this and gave a small smirk. 'So, that's how it is MWA HA HA HA' she evil laughed in her head. The boys took some food and walked out with the girls, well most of them. Ikuto gently grabbed Amu's wrist to keep her back.

She looked up at the tall prince, wondering what he wanted. Ikuto stared deep down into the girl's eyes, her beautiful golden eyes that now flickered with the light of the fire. He looked down, and started to lean in, making Amu blush. He then hooked his finger around the lock necklace. Using the necklace, he slowly pulled her in closer to him.

"Um, Ikuto? What are you doing?" He just leaned in closer, and whispered:  
"You know you're too cute for your own good. I wonder… do you taste as good as you look?" Amu's blush got brighter. Ikuto just leaned back, chuckling. Amu's blush still stayed red.

"So what did you need Ikuto?" The prince smirked:

"Is it not ok for me to wish to see my cute little prisoner. I was hoping we could have a bit of a moment." He gently wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing her back to his chest and nuzzling his head in her neck. She whipped around, blushing furiously.

"What was that?" Ikuto just started to chuckle again while smirking, Amu was starting to think he was a smirkle addict. 'Actually, that works, chuckle + smirk = smirkle. Yep, that just about fits.'

"Well, you do belong to me. I want to make sure you don't forget." Amu looked away, trying to hide her blush.

"But you have to be that extreme about it? I mean, isn't the necklace enough?"

"That isn't extreme, there is much worse I could do, but refuse to do." Amu smiled at him:

"You know Ikuto? You try to hide it, but you really are just like a kind prince. I'm lucky I met you, otherwise I would think that such kindness from others would be impossible." Ikuto just rolled his eyes.

"Whatever you say Amu. You should get to bed though, otherwise the other girls might wonder where you are." Amu nodded and after curtseying and saying good night, she left. Ikuto sighed, 'she really is something.'

 _ **With the girls**_

Amu opened the door to the girls' bedroom… to get a pillow to the face.

"Whumph wath thath?" Amu asked, her voice muffled by the pillow. Then taking it off:

"What was that?"

"Oh, sorry Amu. We thought you were one of those annoying guys," Utau explained.

"Yaya is sorry for thinking Amu was a boy." Amu giggled at Yaya's apology and Nadeshiko's apologetic face. That's when Rima spoke up:

"So what were you doing with Ikuto?" Amu's face turned bright pink like a strawberry lollipop. She pulled her hood down farther to hide it, but Nadeshiko playfully flipped it off.

"No way! Did you do _it_?" Utau asked, "Amu, I never knew you could be so scandalous!" Amu wildly shook her head.

"No! I don't know what you mean… but I don't think we did what your thinking. He- um- he- h-he…"

"Spit it out!" Rima commanded. Amu blush deepened even farther:

"Hehuggedme!" At this Yaya and Nadeshiko squealed, but Utau and Rima looked a bit disappointed.

"Dang, I was at least hoping that you would at least say that my brother kissed you." Rima nodded. Amu looked away. Sadness coming into her eyes:

"I don't love Ikuto girls." The other girls looked at her, she wasn't done yet though. "I don't think I love anyone. How can you love someone when you don't know how?"

"Come on Amu, I bet you know how to love," Nadeshiko urged, a smile on her face. Amu just shook her head.

"I know the feelings of happiness, hurt, pain, sadness, hatred. Just not love."

"Yaya doesn't understand how Amu doesn't know love. Yaya wonders why you weren't taught that." Amu smiled sadly, and leaned back on the bed post of the bed she was sitting on. Her eyes turned up towards the ceiling, her eyes glazed slightly.

"The village where I come from was dark, grey, and dreary, no matter where you went. The only time people would show emotions was when they were told to by the mayor, or if they were looking at me. No matter where I went, their eyes would follow me like the bitter harsh wind. The only time I could escape it was when either I was alone, or with my mother. She wasn't around for long though, she died, leaving me all alone and vulnerable to their icy words, cruel jokes, and unforgiving beatings." Amu sighed and unzipped her nightgown a bit, to reveal the whippings that were still a bit raw that she had received not too long ago from those villagers. The girls gasped when they saw it. She zipped it back up and turned to them.

"It's been a while since I've felt love. And I had only heard of the thing called friendship from my mother. Tell me, are we friends? I'm not sure, I've never felt it so I wouldn't know what to compare it with." The girls instantly glomped her in a huge bear hug.

"Of course Amu!" They all yelled. Amu was shocked, but that shock quickly turned into happiness. Her smile widened, and her eyes sparkled. That's when Yaya yawned so widely that she almost fell over. The other girls laughed as they got into bed.


	15. Chapter 15

_**Chapter 15**_

 _ **Amu's dream**_

 _Amu was walking through the garden. The garden slowly melted away into a forest, much like the one she saw when she started on her journey. It was wonderful. She looked around, and all of her friends plus Ikuto were there with her. She laughed, and ran through the forest. Rushing through it, feeling free like an eagle. She barely heard her friends call out for her to slow down. But when she actually registered the voices in her mind and turned around… she was all alone. They were nowhere to be found. She looked around, calling out for them._

" _Guys! Where are you! Hey!" Silence answered her. Amu went walking to find them. That's when she came across valley. The grass was a beautiful green, colorful flowers scatterd here and there. The sky was a deep blue with puffy and fluffy white clouds floating lazily across. In the center of the valley was a pond, sparkling with water clear, silver and pure. She looked down and stared at her own reflection. That's when the water started to ripple a bit, when the ripples faded, there she was. But she n was different._

 _Her new reflection, somehow, darker. Her dress, once full and brightly colored, now hung limp, tattered, and dark grey. The whites in her reflections eyes were now black, and her mouth was a dark red in the form of an evil smirk. Her hair was no longer a shiny but dull and messy. Gashes were all over body with blood seeping out._

" _Oh Amu, forgotten me already?" Mirror Amu spoke. The real Amu tried to run out of there, but she was rooted to the spot._

" _Who are you?" Amu was able to just get out. Mirror just chuckled darkly:_

" _Why, I'm you of course!" Amu just stared back in horror._

" _You can't be me, that's impossible! I'm nothing like you!"_

" _On the outside maybe, but I_ am _you. The dark side of you that is hidden deep down underneath. The part of you that hates the villagers and wants revenge. The part of you that knows the truth: that love is an unneeded accessory. I'm the you that hates the idea of love and only wants to run from it, just as you wish right now. Don't deny it Amu, you are me. I am you. I reside deep in your heart. I'm the proof that you can never truly love, just as you can never be a star. It's just impossible. No matter how hard you wish, you will never find love… or friendship."_

" _That's not true! I have great friends now you liar!"_

" _Then what are your so called 'friends' doing right now? Go on. See for yourself." Then Mirror Amu waved her hand and another image appeared in the pond. There in the image were her friends, all laughing and talking. Not caring that their friend was gone. In fact, another girl was with them. A girl that looked like she had replaced Amu." Amu gasped, and brought her hand up to her face._

" _You're lying, this isn't real. You're just making an image." Her reflection just chuckled, then those chuckled turned to dark laughs, which turned maniacal cackles. Amu just stared at her with horror and confusion._

" _You don't get it do you? That reflection you just saw wasn't real, true." Then the reflection put up her pointer finger, "that was an image that your heart made. I told you already, I am you. I can't make images if you're heart doesn't feel them. The image that your heart made just proves to you that you still don't trust, love, or even have a friendship with those people. Why lie to yourself Amu? You know just as much as I do, that the only comfort you'll get is from yourself. Trust me, in time, you will realize this. So why not now? Come here. I will show you the way. Trust in me… trust in yourself." That's when Mirror Amu's arm reached out of the water, and grabbed the real Amu, pulling her in. Wind started to whip around her, the white clouds now turned black and foreboding. Amu screamed and struggled, trying to break free of the reflection's grip. Amu was about to be pulled in when…_

 _ **End dream**_

"Amu wake up!" Someone was shaking her shoulders. Amu's eyes snapped open and she bolted up right. She looked around her, everyone was there except Yaya, all looking worried. She noticed how the sheets were tangled around her, and she undid it. She sat on top of the bed. She was seriously warm, it felt like she was on fire. She tried to calm her breathing but to no avail. She wiped a bit of sweat off her brow. She was hot, but she didn't take off her hood, she actually tugged it down. That's when she remembered her drea- no, nightmare. She clutched her head and ears, trying to stop the pain. Tears were now streaming down her face. Everything became blocked out, she couldn't even register her friends' shouts and worried looks. That nightmare just keep pressing replay in her mind. She didn't want to think about it anymore. But it wouldn't didn't allow that.

'Was she really my heart, deep down. Was she really me?' Amu thought. She didn't know what to think. She was confused, and scared. She had always been sure that she was good, that her heart didn't deep down hate. Now everything was turned upside down and inside out. She remembered what her reflection told her, deep down, she wanted revenge. Images kept flashing through her mind, images of each time the villagers gave her pain. Physically, when they beat her. Mentally, when they scared her with the stories of what happened to her father. 'It's because of them that I have scars on my body. It's because of them that I have scars on my mind. It's because of them that I fear fire. No! I can't think like that! Mother told me not to!

Amu stayed like this for a while. Tears streaming down her eyes, showing a mix of emotions from fear, to hatred, to sadness, to fear again. Oblivious to the world outside. Oblivious to the girls cries to her, trying to snap her out of it. That's when Amu felt it, a hand on her shoulder. She snapped out of it for a few seconds, she stared up into sapphire eyes for a second. Then fear took over, and she slapped the hand away from her. Her friends were scared now. They were sure it would work. That's when the person did something that none of them had expected.


	16. Chapter 16

_**Chapter 16**_

Ikuto slapped her cheek, but kept his hand there. Amu snapped out of it, and truly looked at him. There the prince sat on her bed, worry all over his face and shining in his eyes. She looked at him for a seconds, then she launched herself to him. Her arms around his neck, sobbing into his chest. Ikuto looked down kindly at the girl and softly rubbed her back to soothe her. The other girls sighed with relief. A crying Amu wasn't great, but it was better than the Amu that they had before. That Amu had scared them, not responding to them at all, not even registering that they were there at all.

Amu was crying, crying from fear. She didn't want to be as dark as her reflection. The image of the gashes dripping blood, the black eyes, and the cruel smile was still fresh in her mind. The malicious cackle still echoed and rang in her ears. At the thought of those she pressed herself closer to Ikuto, trying to block out the voices. Her already pale skin, became as white as death. Ikuto seeing the change hugged Amu tighter and whispered:

"It's ok Amu, it was just a nightmare." Amu shook her head, it seemed to real to be considered a nightmare. "Can you tell me what was in your nightmare?" Ikuto asked gently. Amu took a deep breath:

"I was all alone and looking into a pond. Suddenly my reflection changed. It was horrible, the reflection had bloody wounds all over, the whites of its eyes turned black and bloodthirsty. It said- it said-" Amu was cut off by her sobs, it was too horrible to continue.

"It's ok Amu, you don't have to tell me anymore than that. Just try to forget it." Amu nodded and pretended to feel better. But in all honesty, she couldn't forget about it. It shown vividly like a blood moon. Ikuto was about to lay her down on her bed, but Amu accidently let out a whimper. He looked down at the girl:

"Is it ok if I leave?" Amu nodded, but her eyes said otherwise. Ikuto just smiled softly. "How about I stay here until you fall asleep." Amu nodded, her eyes showing gratitude. Amu lay down, and put her head in Ikuto's lap. The other girls looked at him with gratitude, and Utau had something else in her eyes… she was smirking. Ikuto felt a light tinge on his cheeks and looked away. He then looked down at the girl in his lap. She seemed to be slowly falling asleep. Her breathing was a lot calmer. He had to admit, when Yaya had run quickly to his room and hurriedly told him how Amu was having a nightmare and they couldn't wake her up, he was concerned. When he actually saw her, awake but freaking out, not responding to the girls shouting, his concern multiplied by one hundred. He wanted to help her.

'What could have caused such a reaction? What exactly was in her nightmare? What was so wrong about a reflection that freaked her out this much?' The other girls had already been asleep for about twenty minutes and Ikuto was starting to doze off when he noticed that Amu was completely asleep. Ikuto looked down, and saw a small smile on her face which made him smile. He gently lifted Amu's head onto her pillow, tucked her into the covers. He kissed her forehead gently, and walked out of the room. A small sweet smile was formed on his lips.

When he walked into the room, he saw his friends, the order of the cat, staring at him. "So, how is she? Is she ok?" Kukai asked. The prince nodded. The others smiled in relief. Ikuto walked over to his bed. He lay on it, arms behind his back and staring up at the ceiling. He looked at his friends on the floor or chairs and couches. They were staying with him tonight. He returned his gaze to the ceiling. Slowly, his eyes closed, and he fell into a deep sleep, dreaming of a mysterious lady and a hooded lady.


	17. Chapter 17

_**Chapter 17**_

Amu groaned as she started to hear noises around her, a light hitting her face preventing her from falling back to sleep. Her golden eyes slowly opened and she sat up. The other girls were giggling:

"You should look at yourself, your hair's a complete knotty mess. It looks like a bird decided to live in it," Nadeshiko chuckled. Amu glared and got up to go brush her hair using the mirror. She stared at it for a bit, remembering the nightmare. She brushed it off though just like her hair. When she was done she turned to the girls:

" _Better_?" Amu asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes at the same time. The other girls nodded and giggled some more. That's when Yaya flopped onto her bed:  
"Yaya's so BORED! Yaya needs something to do!" The other girls nodded, but they didn't know what to do about it. That's when Amu got an idea.

"That's it!" Amu snapped her fingers, completely satisfied with herself. At the other girls' looks she explained:

"How about we have a special easter egg hunt?" The other girls looked at her, totally confused:

"How is that fun?" Utau asked her. Amu smirked.

"You didn't let me finish. What we do is we have the boys hide a certain amount of eggs throughout the inside of the castle, we'll also hide a certain amount. We'll have a certain amount of time to hide the eggs and a certain amount of time to find them. Also, if someone is found and tagged by the opposite team, they will be forced be in a jail spot until they are tagged out of it. Whoever finds the most eggs wins. So how about it? A nice competition to get rid of the boredom." The other girls thought about it for a while. Rima was the first to speak:

"Well, if we get the boys to do it, it should be pretty fun." Amu smiled as the other girls slowly agreed. Utau was the last to say yes, but she had the biggest smile of the group. Amu put her hood up, and with everyone's approval, they went to go ask the boys.

They reached Ikuto's panther door and knocked. The door immediately opened. Amu peered into the room and saw more men around Ikuto's and her age, lounging around, clearly bored. They told their proposal and the boys immediately agreed. Amu smiled and pulled out ten eggs. She gave five of them to the boys.  
"You have 30 minutes to hide those." With that Amu walked out of the room, the girls following her. As soon as the girls were out of hearing range they began to plan. Amu smirked and they walked over to the great hall. The other girls looked around them to see where they could hide the egg. Amu just smirked and pointed up. They looked up and saw a chandelier. They all looked at her questionably.

"How are we supposed to get that up there?" Amu took a few big steps back. Then taking a big breath, she ran and jumped up, tossing the egg up there while doing so. It thankfully landed perfectly on the chandelier without a hitch. The girls sighed out in relief.

"I know where we should put the next egg!" Utau exclaimed. She ran throughout the castle, and finally stopped near the rafters of the kitchen. She smiled at them.

"We'll put one here. They wouldn't think that we would possibly dare to put an egg _here_ since they already know about it." Amu smiled proudly.

"Yay! Yaya thinks that Utau is a genius!" Utau held out an egg for Amu to put up there. Amu shook her head:

"Nope. Your idea, your job to put up there. You can do it." Utau scowled, but tried what Amu did to go up there. She wasn't as graceful, but pretty close. After placing it there, she jumped down, smiling. She was quite proud of herself. The rest of the egg-placing went like that. The girls would think of a place, and Amu made that girl place it there. There was only egg left. They already knew where they were going to hide the last egg. That's when Amu pulled out her little mirror, and looked behind her with it. She just barely caught Ikuto standing in the corner, back facing them, listening in on them. She then started to talk in a loud voice that clearly portrayed that she knew he was there and was trying to trick him:

"I know where we should hide our next egg!" She called out, clearly loud. The other girls looked at her like she was crazy, until she winked and pointed at Ikuto. The girls nodded, their mouths in an O form.

"I think I should hide with the egg in a locked room! You know the one, the one that's on the far left side of the castle. You know the one. The room of many mirrors?!" The girls were now confused; Amu had just yelled out their plan. 'Is Amu crazy?' Rima screamed in her head. That's when Amu pulled the girls away, and did all types of zig-zagging paths. Until she finally stopped.

"Why did you do that? You just revealed our plan?!" Utau whisper-screamed. Amu just snickered.

"I just made our plan excellent. Trust me. By the way, I think you should hide to Utau, throw them off some more. Ok, so where should I put the egg?" Utau's scowl dropped, she did trust Amu, a smirk appeared. She whispered it into Amu's ear. Amu blushed:

"H-how will that work?"

"Just in case they do find you, them being gentlemen, will never do such a thing. Now you trust me." Amu nodded and ran off to her hiding spot.

 _ **Meanwhile**_

The boys were all talking together, Ikuto had just shared his information to the other boys, he added:

"I don't think we should go there; it will just be a waste of time. I think Amu knew I was there and was trying to throw us off by giving us fake information." The other boys nodded.

"So where _should_ we look?" Kukai asked. The other boys looked at each other. They weren't really sure. A blonde man thought for a bit, then said:

"I think we should start by splitting up and looking." A purple haired guy who looked much like Nagihiko nodded:

"I think you're right Tadase," he told the blonde. Then a green-haired boy with glasses, pushed up his glasses and thought:

"While we're split up, we might as well go after the girls while we're at it. Go after the girls first, then go find the eggs." Everyone nodded in agreement. There was only 1 minute left that they had to wait, then they could start the hunt.

 _ **55 seconds later (boys)**_

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Let's go."

 _ **55 seconds later (girls)**_

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Let's go."

 _ **With the boys**_

Ikuto quietly, like a cat, split off from the rest of the group and began to prowl around, looking for eggs. He finally found one, it was hidden in the ladies' bathroom. He didn't like walking into it, but he had no choice. As soon as he got it, he ran out of it, thankful that at least there were no ladies in it at the time. He then placed it on the meeting spot for both the teams and placed it in the boys' basket. He noticed that the girls found one as well. 'Darn!'

 _ **With the Girls before they found the first egg**_

Rima was looking around for any signs of the boys or eggs. That's when she spotted one. It was in the dirty clothes shoot. She grimaced.

"Hey, Utau, can you crawl in there?" Utau just smirked and gestured at the shoot:

"No, be my guest." Rima groaned and looked hopefully at Nadeshiko:

"Nadeshiko, please?" Nadeshiko shook her head, Yaya shook her head before Rima could even ask her. The long-haired dirty-blonde sighed.

"I suppose I have no choice but to sacrifice myself." The girl hesitantly clambered into the shoot. She grimaced when she accidently touched a dirty piece of underwear. She stared at it for a few seconds, then as quick as lightning, she grabbed the egg and shot out of that shoot. She shoved into Utau's hand and rushed away to go puke. The girls both giggled and gave poor Rima a look of pity. Utau walked over to the basket, and put the egg into it, smirking when she saw that the boys didn't find an egg yet.

 _ **Meanwhile**_

Amu had Utau lock the doors with a padlock on the outside. Amu looked around her, trying to find the perfect hiding spot. She tucked the egg into its place and jumped into her hiding spot. She was now high up in the rafters, using the shadows to cover her. She sat down on the collar tie, leaning against the vertical wind brace. She sat there, not bored at all. Seriously. Many questions came into her head, about whether her plan was completely fool-proof. 'What if the boys see through my plan? What if the girls all get caught?' When she wasn't worrying, she was making faces in the mirror she brought with her. She'd pull her eyelid down, lift her eyebrows in a quirky manner, mangle her lips or tongue. All types of stuff, anything to help pass the time.

 _ **Anyways, on to the boys**_

Kukai was sitting at the top of the staircase, waiting to ambush an unfortunate girl who came across his path. That's when he caught sight of a girl, not bothering to look who it was; he went after her. He launched himself from the staircase and pounced the girl, landing on top of her. Unfortunately for Kukai, this girl wasn't any of the girls he was after. The girl blinked at him for a second until…

"AAHHHHHHHHHHHHH RAPE! HELP ME! I'M BEING RAPED!" The girl screamed. Kukai immediately got off the girl:

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to- it was an accident." The girl just ran off, still screaming her head off. Kukai lifted his hand up after her. Then he heard chuckling behind him. He turned his head back and saw the princess, making him dumbstruck. She was wiping tears from her eyes, still laughing. When they finally quieted:

"Oh, that was funny. I can't believe you'd go that far for us girls." Kukai just stared at the girl.

"It's not like you can stop us. Heck, Kukai, you can't even catch me." This caused Kukai to have a huge goofy smile on his face:

"It's a challenge? Fine, I except!" He tore after Utau, who was already running away. Utau noticed an egg while she was running, it was in the fruit basket on the table. Utau quickly grabbed it and kept running. She was running so hard, that she broke the string that was attached to it, without missing a step. As Kukai was running, he noticed an egg in the chandelier. As he was already running towards it, he jumped up, grabbed the chandelier, reached up and grasped the egg. He then swung himself, jumped down and kept running.

 _ **Somewhere else**_

"I want some candy, I think I'm going to go into the kitchen and grab some." She walked into the kitchen and practically dove into the candy cupboard. That's when she found one. She found an egg. That's when she heard shuffling behind her. She turned around and came face-to-face with a guy with green hair and glasses. He stood there, embarrassed at being caught trying to catch Yaya. Not that Yaya noticed. She knew that this man was Kairi, the smartest of all the knights in the Order of the Cat.

"Oh, you're Kairi!" The man looked at her, not sure what to do.

"Y-yeeaaaah?" Yaya smiled her big babyish grin:

"Then you must have the answer to what I want to know!" Kairi just looked at her.

"What do you need to know?"

"I want to know the history of all the candies in the world!" Kairi looked at her, his glasses flashed:

"I do not, but that just gives me a reading and memorization challenge! Well, I except." In a flash, he was off. Yaya looked after him, then smiled. She grabbed a handful of candy and the egg and walked off to the egg basket. 'Honestly, I can't believe he fell for it.' Then after a few seconds, 'but I really do want to know about that history. I mean who wouldn't when it's about candy!" With that, she was gone faster than you could say 'snickerdoodle,' back to the kitchen.

While Kairi was in the library, he found an egg, right behind _The History of Candies_ book. He smiled and after he read the whole thing, (in a matter of 5 minutes, that guy was inhumanely fast), he placed the egg into the boy's basket and went to go tell Yaya, who was most likely waiting for him, about candies' history.

 _ **With Nagihiko**_

The purple-haired boy found an egg on accident. 'Oh, why don't I look in the egg carton for fun. It'll help pass the time, and maybe I might find a girl while on my way there.' Well, he didn't find any girls. He didn't even see any maids. But, he did find an egg hunt egg in the egg carton.

"Are you serious! I was just joking around! I didn't seriously think that those girls would put one in there!" He grabbed the egg and ran out. After he placed the egg into the basket, he went out. 'Ok, egg, check. Now I just need to get a girl out.' Almost as if it was a miracle, one of the girls came into his view. She was quite short, with long curly blonde hair. 'Look who it is, it's Princess Rima. Excellent! I heard that Rima hated and was terrible at running, or any kind of exercise. This should be a piece of cake!'

"Yes!" He accidently shouted. Unfortunately, Rima heard it. She started to run, but she was _not_ fast, not at all. Nagihiko started to run after her. And he was seriously close to catching her, when all of a sudden, she fell and unfortunately, there was a staircase there.

"Rima!" The princess fell down a few stairs, but was able to stop herself. She sat there, pain shooting up her ankles. She bit her lip to distract herself from the pain. Nagihiko ran to meet her, and sat a few steps below her.

"Does it hurt?"

"No duh Sherlock!" Nagihiko ignored it:

"Do you mind if I check it?" This caused Rima to blush faintly. She tried to push it away, but it wouldn't go.

"Sure." She replied bluntly, looking away so hide it from the cute man, 'wait, did I just think that? That knight is NOT cute!' Her heart said otherwise. It was madly beating like a drum. Her blush only deepened when Nagihiko slowly and gently took of her shoe and sock. He slowly felt it. She winced slightly. He looked up at the girl.

"It's sprained." He then gently picked the girl up and started to go upstairs.

"W-what are you doing? Put me down!" The girl ordered.

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

"And why not?"

"Because you can't walk." Rima knew she couldn't argue against that. She sighed, and was silent the rest of the way, trying to ignore her blush.

 _ **With Nadeshiko**_

The purple-haired girl looked at the library around her.

"I wonder where the boys hid an egg," she said aloud to herself. That's when she spotted one. It was high up on a book shelf. She stood up on her tippy toes to try to reach it. She just barely missed it by a five inches. Nadeshiko sighed. That's when she saw someone who could reach it… unfortunately, he was the blonde knight, fortunately, it was Tadase.

"Oh Tadase!" The man came over, confused.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering if you could please help me grab this." She pointed up at the shelf. He looked up at it and easily retrieved it.

"Is this what you wanted?"

"Yes, thank you very much. I would be honored if you could bring this back." The man nodded:

"But only if you show where one of your eggs are." Nadeshiko nodded:

"That sounds fair." She led the gentleman over to a vase where one was hidden. Tadase offered out his arm which Nadeshiko gladly excepted. Then arm-in-arm, the two walked over to the meeting/egg basket place.

 _ **With Amu**_

Needless to say, Amu was bored. She had exhausted all of the possible funny face options, and she had nothing else to do. Not to mention her but hurt. 'Man, I hope either this game ends soon, or someone comes in here.'

 _ **With Ikuto**_

He had walked around the whole entire castle. He still couldn't find a trace of an egg. That's when he realized… he hadn't checked the whole entire castle. There was still one room which he hadn't entered. The Room of Mirrors. He slapped himself in the head and quickly sprinted to the room.

Unfortunately, when he reached it, the door was padlocked. He looked around for any place where the key might be hidden. He found it, the vase wasn't resting on its stand all the way. It looked like it was raised less than a centimeter above it. He quickly lifted up the vase and grabbed the key. He shoved it into the lock and turned…. Nothing. It wasn't the right key. 'Darn!' He checked all over the place, and finally found another key, just above a painting. He shoved it in the lock and turned the key, the padlock fell with a big 'CHANK' to the floor.

He slowly swung open the door and looked around. No one was there on ground level. He was about to turn out of the room when he remembered something. Amu was easily able to get up into the rafters. He jumped up on some objects and landed softly in them. He scanned the area and found her, hiding in the shadows. He crept towards her:

"Ok, the games up. Hand over the egg." Amu just looked at him, a smirk on her face, and chuckled.

"I won't hand the egg over to you."

"And why not?" Ikuto growled.

"Because you have to grab it yourself."

"Well where is…." He found where it was. It was in her dress. Now Amu was smirking like crazy. Her hood was up though, so he could only just see her lips.

"So, what are you going to do now? Prove that you are a gentleman and admit your defeat… or prove that you are a complete pervert and lose? It's your choice." Amu was now chuckling evilly. This was her plan. She knew that there was very little time to make his decision. If he didn't decide soon, he would lose. But she knew he would lose anyways. She knew Ikuto was a pervert, but not _that_ big of a pervert.

Ikuto was still thinking about his decision. He had no idea what to do, he was cornered, and he knew it. 'Usually I corner people, but now I'm stuck as the mouse and Amu's the cat.'

"You have 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. I win." The clocks in the castle all chimed, signaling the end of the game. Amu jumped down, leaving a dumbstruck kitty behind. She walked over to the meeting room, Ikuto coming a minute after her. She met everyone there. It was very odd though, Utau was pouting, Kukai was grinning victoriously, Kairi was telling Yaya about the history of candy, Nadeshiko and Tadase were holding hands, and Nagihiko was wrapping Rima's ankle. As soon as Amu and Ikuto came in, everyone asked:

"Well?" Amu smirked, and pulled out the egg. All the girl's cheered, all the boy's groaned. Amu turned towards the girls:

"So have you decided who you're going to make your slave for the week?" That was added later to give it more appeal, suggested by Utau. The girls all nodded.

"Kukai." Utau replied simply.

"Kairi!" Yaya squealed.

"I would love to have Tadase." Nadeshiko said politely.

"I suppose I'll take Nagihiko, maybe that will allow me to be able to train him," Rima glared slightly at the boy, trying to hide her blush.

"That' means I'm left with kitty prince." The boys groaned. It was going to be a _long_ week for them.


	18. Chapter 18

**Thanks to all who reviewed. I try to keep my story unpredictable. Oh also, if anyone knows how to make my summary better, comment on the review, that would be appreciated.**

 _ **Chapter 18**_

Ikuto was following Amu around like puppy to master. Actually, all the boys were. Ikuto was carrying some stuff for Amu, following her into her room. She lay down on her bed, tired by the shopping that she did.

"You only went to two shops and you're already worn out?" Amu glared at him:

"Sorry for not having any shops back in my village." Then she dropped her head again. Ikuto just raised an eyebrow and sat down on the floor. He laid his head on her open hand.

"What are you doing?" Amu asked. Ikuto smirked:

"What? Is it so wrong for your devoted slave to do this? Would you rather have me in your bed with you?" Amu's blush turned bright red. She had heard what that meant from Utau. (No Utau never did *hem* that. All the girls have never done it)

"W-what?! No! Don't even think about it!" Ikuto chuckled, 'this girl is just too easy to tease.' Amu glared at him.

"That wasn't very funny you know," she grumbled. Ikuto smiled, deciding he wanted to tease her more. He crawled onto the foot of the bed. She screeched and shoved him off. He landed with a loud 'THUMP' onto the floor. He rubbed his butt.

"But _Amu,_ why do you deny your true feelings? I know you want me." He put on his sexy smirk, only to have her turn away.

"I don't want you, you big pervert." Ikuto sighed, pretending to feel dejected.

"How terrible. How could you hurt your slave so?" Amu rolled her eyes and chucked her pillow at Ikuto's face. He grabbed it before it hit his face and put it under his head.

"Jerk," Amu grumbled. Ikuto just chuckled and stood up, stretching.

"So, would your highness wish to go to the garden?" Amu stayed silent. Ikuto just thought she was thinking until after a few seconds and he still didn't receive a response. He leaned over and looked at Amu… she was fast asleep. Ikuto smiled at the girl, and curled up on the floor, deciding to take a nap.

 _ **With slave Nagihiko and Princess Rima the magnificent**_

"Slave, get me some tea!" The short blonde ordered.

"Ok." Rima hit the boy on the head:

"It's 'Yes Princess Rima the magnificent, anything for my mistress'!" Nagihiko sighed and repeated:

"Yes Princess Rima the magnificent, anything for my mistress.' Rima smiled and shooed him away to get some tea. 'Of course, I get the most demanding of all the girls.'

 _ **With Mistress Utau and Kukai**_

"Kukai, I order you as your mistress to teach me how to use a sword."

"But your-"

"Don't 'but' me! I am your mistress and you _will_ teach me." Kukai sighed.

"Alright, come this way my mistress." When they reached the arena, he got an idea. One that he really liked. He took Utau's hand, bowed, and kissed her hand.

"W-w-what was that?" Utau was trying to hide her blush. Kukai looked up at the princess with wide eyes and feigned innocence:

"What could you possibly mean my mistress? Is it not ok for a slave to show their mistress respect?" Utau looked away, still blushing:

"Just don't do it again."

"Ok my lady. Let's start teaching you."

 _ **With Yaya and her slave of candy, Kairi**_

"Kairi, Yaya is in need of candy! Go fetch it!" Yaya demanded. She was sitting on a chair, with a scepter made from Kairi's sword and candy tied to it.

"Yes Princess Yaya of Candyland." Kairi went to the cupboard and got some out, sighing in the process. 'dang, being a slave to her is hard work.' He smiled, 'she's cute though.'

"Kairi, where's that candy!"

"Coming Princess Yaya of Candyland."

 _ **With Lady Nadeshiko and Tadase**_

"Hold still please Tadase!" Nadeshiko ordered. There stood Tadase on a model stand, breast pads on and wearing a dress.

"Why am I doing this again?" Tadase grumbled.

"Because you are the perfect size, shape, and cuteness to work for this dress. I want to put it up in the shop, and it has to be just right."

"But don't you have any regular _female_ models?" Tadase whined, his crimson-pink eyes wide like a puppy's.

"They're all out sick, and since you're my servant for the week, I'm going to use you." Tadase sighed, he knew that there was no way out of this.

 _ **With all the boys**_

All the boys thought one thing, 'I can't wait for this week to be over.'


	19. Chapter 19

_**Chapter 19**_

Finally, that torturous week of being enslaved to the girls was over. It was a long week, and the boys were in hiding, trying to regain their lost pride and ego. The girls were reminiscing over the fun week they had and they would definitely do it again if they had the chance.

Amu was currently walking through the woods in the castle grounds, when a rustle caught her attention. She looked around, but saw nothing. 'I wonder what that could have been?' She shrugged and kept walking. Rustle. Rustle. Amu squinted at a nearby bush, she saw nothing. She started to walk faster, the rustling got faster. She quickly exited the woods and ran into the castle, she didn't realize she left the door open.

Squeak. "That's odd, I could have sworn that that pot wasn't there earlier. She kept walking. Clank. She noticed the suit of armor was three inches to the left of where it was supposed to be. She kept walking Clunk! She whipped around and looked at the statue. Her eyes scanned up the statue. Last time she checked, that statue didn't have messy blue hair. She walked up to the statue and peered behind it, there right behind it was a man with messy dark blue hair, golden eyes, in a servant/butler's outfit. He looked at her horrified, and he had good reason to. She looked murderous right now.

"May I ask why you are stalking me?" The poor servant squeaked and tried to run away but Amu caught the back of the man's collar.

"Let me go! Let me go! I won't tell you that the prince sent me here, I won't!" Amu smirked, in the man's panic he let it slip.

"Ah, so the prince sent you, why is that?" The man stopped struggling and slowly turned his head towards the rosette.

"H-h-how did you know?" Amu mentally rolled her eyes.

"I'm psychic. Anyways, what's your name?"

"Y-Y-Yoru." Amu fake smiled, but her aura was black and she looked evil:

"So mind telling me why Ikuto had you stalk me?" Yoru snapped:

"I'm sorry I don't know! Please don't hurt me!" Amu sighed,

"I was never planning to hurt you anyways, just don't follow me please. If Ikuto asks you anything, just say that I'm totally fine." With that, Amu walked away, tugging down on her hood. She walked into the girl's bedroom for the official girl time of the day.

When she walked into the room, she realized that she was the last to arrive. She closed the door tightly, and looked at all of them. Utau just looked at Amu, Amu could already tell by her stare what Utau wanted:

"Take off your hood." Amu sighed, and flipped it off. Her blonde friend wasn't satisfied though, she held out her hand in a 'gimme gimme' motion. Amu sighing again, took off the hood and gave it to the princess. Yaya jumped onto Amu:

"Yaya loves Amu better with her hood off. Yaya thinks Amu's hair is pretty!" Amu smiled at the cute girl. Nadeshiko nodded in agreement. Rima just looked at her, finally she spoke.

"You've never really explained why you always wear your hood." Amu looked away and tried to avoid it by stuffing her face with cookies. Unfortunately, Amu had to swallow, as she reached for more, Nadeshiko stole the platter.

"Oh no Amu, you are not going to get out of this." Amu was surprised that Nadeshiko would say that, for a whole week Nadeshiko had been with Amu. The rosette sighed; she knew when she was defeated. Slowly, Amu raised up her hair. The girls looked closely, and gasped. A brand. That's what they saw, a brand. It was in the shape of a two hammers, the mark of a shunned freak. Amu put her hair back down and looked at her friends shocked faces.

"I wear this hood for two reasons, the first is because many people shun me because of my unusual hair. The other is to hide the brand. I remember how kids used to tease me about it. They teased me even more though, about my hair. My mother made my hood because I begged her too. The pink attracted to much attention; I couldn't slip in and out of crowds if I wanted to. Also, when it's on, I don't have to look at it myself." The other girls looked at her oddly.

"So you have a confidence issue with your hair?" Amu looked away:

"Not just with my hair. Everything about myself, I hate. I always try to love myself a little more, but it never works. I just can't. I suppose after all those years of being told bad things about myself, I see it." Amu thought back to her first time outside the village. At the time, she was so distracted with the beauty of the forest, that she actually thought she was beautiful too. As soon as she heard the whisper from the boy about her hair though, reality crashed down on her like a gray brick.

"Why though?" Amu looked up at Rima.

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you hate yourself?" Rima clarified. Amu looked away, her bangs covered her golden eyes.

"I don't have a mother anymore; I don't even remember having a father. I have freakish golden eyes, and my hair is even more weird. My skink isn't perfectly creamy and smooth. My mouth and nose seem to small. My arms aren't fragile. My legs are too long as well as my fingers. I've been told that it isn't natural to be so flexible. I'm too skinny, and I-" Amu looked around tears brimming in her eyes. She scanned all of the girls in the room before shouting: "and I'm jealous of all of you!" All the girls were shocked. They had never once even thought that Amu had such instability issues or jealousy. She must've hidden her feelings a lot. Then all four girls did something that Amu was not expecting at all.


	20. Chapter 20

_**Chapter 20**_

 _ **Recap**_

 _Then all four girls did something that Amu was not expecting at all._

 _ **End Recap**_

The girls were laughing. Yep, laughing. Amu stared at them dumbstruck. Finally the rosette was able to get some words out:

"What's so funny?" None of the girls answered for a while, but Nadeshiko was the first to recover from her laughing fit. She wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Sorry, but you see Amu. There's nothing to be jealous of me at all. Also, all your reasons for why you don't like yourself… they're all untrue. Your skin is not too white but not too tan, just perfect, and it goes with any color dress. Your mouth and nose aren't too small but charmingly cute. Think of your legs and fingers as graceful, not long. It's a good thing to be flexible, and your wonderful no matter what size you are. Besides, no matter what you look like… you're you. Nothing will change that, because it's what's on the inside that counts." Amu looked at the plum-coloured girl. She looked away, she wasn't sure how to react. That's when the other girls added in:

"Yeah! Yaya thinks Amu should love herself just like how Yaya loves Amu!"

"Definitely, you don't see me complaining about how short _I_ am… But if you comment about it, I'll still snap your neck." Amu giggled at this one.

"Love how you look Amu, and just be glad that you're you. Don't let anyone tell you that you aren't beautiful, and if someone does… Whup their butt!" Amu smiled at all the girls. Now that she looked at it from a different angle… they were right. She never thought that she could think of herself as… pretty. She _was_ pretty, she was Amu, and she could now feel proud of it. Her smile widened into a big grin when she realized that she did feel that way. She bear hugged all the girls.

"Thank you! I- I- I'm just so happy! I finally think I understand." Amu's eyes started to tear up. Just the feeling that she was beautiful and loved was amazing.

"uhh, can't breathe!" Amu looked at the girls with red faces and bulging eyes from her squeezing them too hard.

"Oh, sorry girls." She let the girls go, and after everyone had the time to catch their breath, Nadeshiko had an idea.

"How about we all have a makeover, and see how the boys react!" All the girls nodded. Utau went over and rang the bell.

"Is there anything I can do for you your majesty?" The maid who came up asked.

"Yes, if you could get the spa people ready, we will be down there in five minutes."  
"Yes my lady." The maid curtseyed and left the room. The girls all squealed, they were totally excited.

Finally, it was time for them to go to the spa. They couldn't get there fast enough. Minutes took eternity, but at last they made it to the spa room. As soon as the girls opened the door, they caught the whiff of many different smells of shampoos, conditioners, lotions, salts, etc. The melody of smells created a perfect symphony of harmonies.

The girls stepped into the room. The walls in this room were a medium blue. There were pristine marble tubs each filled with hot bubbly water, each bath with different smelling soap. Then nine girls came out, one with blue hair, one with light green hair, pink hair, orange hair, blonde hair, dark (almost black) purple hair, light plum hair, a girl with a clown hat, and a girl with a baby hat.

Utau demanded that Amu have four attendants, and the other three demanded that Utau have two attendants. With that settled, the girls started their little spa day.


	21. Chapter 21

_**Chapter 21**_

All the girls were resting in the hot bubbly water. Amu sighed as she relaxed into the pink chocolate scented bubbles, Rima did the same but her bubbles were orange and caramel scented, Utau's were white and coconut scented, Yaya had red cake scented, and Nadeshiko's was purple and smelled of green tea. All the girls sighed in happiness at the same time. All around them were candles smelling like the ocean. Stray bubbles lazily floated about the room. The walls were painted to look like a calm and relaxing beach. A mini waterfall was pouring down a wall, pooling in a small square fountain in the floor beneath it, creating a soothing melody.

The attendants were slowly massaging the girls' hair, with wonderful smelling shampoo. Amu's hair was being done with strawberry, Rima's with apple, Utau's with vanilla, Yaya's with cinnamon, and Nadeshiko's with melon. The attendants then rinsed the girls' hair carefully with warm water, and then repeated the process with same smelling conditioner. Amu was so comfortable that she almost fell asleep a few times. Then a sweet and gentle voice whispered in her ear:

"It's ok, feel free to sleep. After all, this spa is to make you relax and get rid of the stress." Amu just barely comprehended it as she was starting to drift to sleep. After the conditioner was rinsed, a few different oils were put in to keep the hair not just shiny but also healthy. Amu slowly woke up as the girls were about to finish up.

The next part was the message, the girls got wrapped up in fluffy robes and then walked over to the tables. This message room had a different theme to it. It now looked like a traditional Japanese garden. A few statues were here and there, along with a few bonsai trees. There was another waterfall, this time falling into a small pond with a few carp in it. The floors were a light lavender, and the walls had a bridge over a pond with cherry blossom petals floating down, decorated on it. Amu could faintly smell a mix of cherry blossoms and fresh water wafting throughout the room. They lay there as all the girls worked on different spots. The rhythmic circles that she felt on her back and shoulders hypnotized Amu, causing her eyelids to slowly droop. She had a feeling that she wasn't the only one to feel that way. What feels like all too soon, they were escorted to the next room.

The next room was decorated to look like a forest, the walls were painted in a green forest path scene, making the greyish-brown in-laid stone floor look like the path itself. The waterfall on this wall came down with a splash onto the rocks. The room was filled with pine smelling candles. The wardrobes were carving to look like actual tree trunks. The lighting was scattered like it was pouring down through actual leaves. All the attendants scanned the girls quickly and rushed to the wardrobes. They each pulled out a dress to give to their client. Amu received a flowy but lively dress, a light blue that rivalled the sky. When Amu put it on she noticed how it hugged her curves just right. It slowly turned from white on the top to light blue on the bottom. It was a chiffon style, and the half- inch thick straps on her shoulders were decorated with gold, and her gold belt was studded with sapphires. She wore golden sandals that wrapped around her leg up to her knee. The whole thing made her look like a Greek goddess. Amu looked at the other girls as they stepped out of the changing rooms and she noticed they were wearing almost the same thing, except the colors. Rima's was orange with topaz, Yaya's was red with rubies, Nadeshiko's was purple with amythest, and Utau's was soft pink with onyx. They all smiled at eachother as they were ushered into another room.

The last room was decorated in a more European garden style. The walls were painted with a garden scene with bushes of roses, and flowers of all different colors. The floors were pure white marble, except for one mosaic in the middle of the floor of a golden rose. The waterfall was replaced with a marble fountain spewing crystal-clear water. The candles smelled of lavender and rose. There were mirrors up on one wall. The mirrors' frames each held a design of a flower, but each mirrors' flower was different. The chairs were thrones of gold as well, but looked as if they were made of vines and thorns, each with a single flower at the top, going with its respective mirror. Utau was seated at the iris throne, Nadeshiko's was the orchid, Yaya's was the buttercup, Rima's was the hydrangea, and Amu's was the lily.

The attendants went to work right away on the girls' hair:

"You don't really need much work on your hair," the girl with pink hair told Amu, "maybe just a pretty curl at the ends." Amu was surprised at this; she didn't expect that. She smiled all the while though as they got to it. Rima's hair was being put into a French side braid, Yaya's was being put into a cute braided bun, Utau's was being put into a top pony, that part in a small bow, and Nadeshiko had a little tiny mini side braid. These looks made them look even more like a Greek goddess.

The girl with blue hair then spun Amu around and started to do her make-up. She put on light pink lip-gloss, a hint of blush, and then had Amu close her eyes. She then put on blue eyeshadow with a light touch of gold at the edges. She put on mascara after that, and she was done. It made her look strong and beautiful.

Nadeshiko had an elegant purple eyeshadow with a touch of brown at the edge. Her lip-gloss was a shade darker than Amu's; her makeup showed her elegance. A touch of blush, and mascara was then added. Utau's lip-gloss was the darkest of the group, a dark pink color, with a soft pink eyeshadow with sparkly black on the edges, her makeup caught her spunk. Yaya had a touch of diamond colored eyeshadow, a light pink lip-gloss, and that was it, it was simple but revealed Yaya's beautiful childlike innocence. Rima's eyeshadow was gold and silver, her lip-gloss was a fun red color; it portrayed Rima's fun jokester side. At the count of three, all five girls were spun around.

When they opened their eyes, they lit up. They saw how gorgeous they were. They looked young, healthy, happy, and beautiful. The color and makeup was so them, and the matching styles was fun. They couldn't wait to show the boys.


	22. Chapter 22

_**Chapter 22**_

Amu loved her hair, but she didn't want to show her hair just yet. Maybe later. Maybe. When Amu walked out, she put on her hood, it didn't hide her face or her dress, just her hair. The other girls were too excited to care at the moment. They found the boys, and they slowly walked up behind them and tapped them on the shoulders. Amu tapping Ikuto, Utau tapping Kukai, Yaya to Kairi, Nadeshiko to Tadase, and Rima to Nagihiko.

Ikuto turned around to face the most stunning lady he had ever met. He knew it was Amu, but she seemed to much happier. The happiest he had seen her since he first showed her the garden. He was dazzled by her magnificent radiance. He saw the other boys with the same looks on their faces but it didn't register. He only had eyes for Amu. He gently grabbed her hand and led her to his private balcony.

"What are you doing Ikuto?" Amu asked, kind of confused. He leaned down, his hand caressing her cheek.

"I've always wanted to do this." He whispered softly. He leaned closer, slowly, Amu wasn't sure what was happening until she felt his soft lips connect with hers. She gasped but quickly recovered and kissed him back, closing her eyes, relishing the moment. She didn't even notice when she felt someone unbuttoning her cape and letting it fall off her head to the ground.

Amu's heart was fluttering faster than a hummingbird's wings. It seemed like the sparkles and roses were appearing around the couple, the stars were shining brighter, and a light breeze picked up. Finally, the two broke apart, took a break, but they were drawn together again, and this time they deepened the kiss. Amu didn't realize that she put her arms around Ikuto's neck instead of against his chest, and Ikuto pulled her into a tighter embrace.

After a bit, they broke apart again. Amu had a light blush on her cheeks, her eyes were wide and shone with a mysterious light. Ikuto when he looked at her gasped. Amu then realized her cloak was on the floor. She quickly bent down to pick it up, as she was about to put it on, a hand rested on hers. She looked up:

"Don't cover it up."

"What? Why?" Amu was shocked, why wouldn't he want her to put it on?

"Because it suits you. Your hair I mean. It's beautiful, please don't cover it up." Amu picked up a strand of hair and glanced down it.

"You mean you don't hate it?" Ikuto shook his head and knelt down, gently grabbing her hand.

"I think it's wonderful, I wouldn't change a thing about it, and I wouldn't have you cover it up." Amu looked down, tears slowly coming down her cheeks. Ikuto quickly stood up.

"I-I didn't mean to hurt y-your f-feelings, I-I-I-"

"No, it's ok your majesty. Thank you. Y-you don't know how much that means to me." Amu looked up at Ikuto, a sweet smile on her face. Ikuto was struck by this smile, it was so simple, but he had never seen such an honest smile from any girl that wasn't a part of his family. He took both her hands, causing Amu to look up at him.

"Amu, I promise you that I will do whatever I can to protect that innocent smile of yours." Amu's eyes widened. Protect, that was a word she hadn't heard in a while.

"Y-you will?" Ikuto smiled.

"Of course."


	23. Chapter 23

_**Chapter 23**_

As Amu grabbed her hood but kept it off. She was smiling, until she saw it. A hammer. She quickly picked it up, there was a note.

" _If you don't want your prince and friends to die, meet me in the woods for your punishment. You shall not escape."_ Amu dropped it as though it was on fire. Her eyes were wide. 'What should I do? Ikuto might- no. This is too dangerous even for him. I guess there is only one option.' Amu slipped on the hood, put it up and quickly exited the castle, hiding in the shadows of the night. A couple times she was almost caught, thankfully not though.

"Hey, do you hear any rustling?" a guard near her asked. Amu immediately stopped, staying as still as possible.

"Nah, you must be hearing things." The other guard told the first, causing him to shrug. Amu sighed in relief and quietly sneaked away.

After a bit, she finally made it out of the castle grounds and into the forest path. She traveled a little further when she met _him._ There he stood, turned away from her; his hands were clasped behind his broad back. His hair was the same as well, graying brown slicked back perfectly. At the sound of her footsteps, he turned towards her. His blank expression morphed into a face of malice. Amu took a step back, but for every step back; he took two steps forward.

"You really thought you could escape me didn't you?" The mayor's eyes glinted red. He looked ready for the kill. Amu held fear in her eyes, that's when she noticed it, a glint of thin metal. She turned to run, but his strong hand caught her wrist. He pulled out the thin metal, a long needle. His grin turned demonic

"Now for your punishment, don't worry, it'll be very painful. You'll die a worse death than your scum of a father, that pathetic duke and knight. After all, you are worse than scum." He threw back Amu's hood, moved her hair away from her neck, and plunged it into the spot where her brand was. Amu screamed in pain, but it was over soon, and it hurt less, it just throbbed. That's what confused Amu. After the mayor pulled it out, he walked away. 'Didn't he say I will die?' But as soon as the mayor was out of her line of sight…

"GAH!" Amu dropped to the ground, clutching at her brand. It felt like it was on fire, no worse than that, it was being frozen and scorched at the same time. It was pure agony. She realized her skin was becoming paler, and her body was shaking uncontrollably. Soon her eyesight started to become blurry, but she tried her best to stay awake.

"Got-to-get-" Amu collapsed, curling up in a ball.

 _ **In the castle an hour later**_

The four girls were starting to get worried. It was late.

"Amu should have returned already, even Ikuto doesn't spend time with girls at this hour," Utau was pacing the room. Yaya was hugging her pillow, Nadeshiko was comforting the girl, and Rima was punching her pillow. Utau stopped suddenly:

"We should go ask, I have a bad feeling about this." The other girls nodded in agreement. They hurried over to the guys' bedroom and pounded on the door. It slowly opened:

"why are you up at this ungodly hour?" Kukai muttered.

"Is Ikuto there?" Ikuto appeared, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

"Yeah what do you need?"

"Is Amu with you?" Ikuto was confused at this question:

"No, she went to bed a while ago… you don't know where she is?" Rima punched the wall in frustration.

"Where could she be! She's not the type of girl to do anything wrong…" that's when she spotted it, a hammer lying there randomly in a corner, and a measly paper a bit away from it. She rushed over to it.

"No! You've got to be kidding me!" She picked up the hammer and showed it to the girls, causing them to gasp. Tears were pouring down Yaya's face, a stray tear glistened down Nadeshiko's as well. The five boys just stared, to them it was just a hammer.

"He must have come for her… and she went alone," Rima whispered, her bangs covering her face.

"Darn it! Why couldn't she have waited and brought us along!" They rushed off, the boys following, bewildered, behind them.

"I don't get it, what does that hammer show you? What does it have to do with Amu's disappearance?" Tadase asked his fellow knights.

"It clearly has to do with a person from her past, and that's the symbol he/she uses to identify him/herself," Kairi pushed his glasses up as he said that. Ikuto was oddly silent during all of this, 'I told Amu that I would protect her, and yet, I was unable to. I failed her.' Nagihiko noticed his prince's dark face, he placed his hand on Ikuto's shoulder:

"Don't worry, we'll find her."

"But-"

"Don't think negative, we don't have time for that," Nagihiko cut off. Ikuto nodded and started to run faster. It wasn't until he ran into his sister did he notice the girls stop. He pushed through, and there she was. Amu was curled up on the ground, deathly pale and shivering. He quickly picked her up:

"We have to get her back to the castle!" He started to run, as fast as he could. It seemed like a million years until he reached the castle.

"I need a doctor!" he yelled, immediately, maids on the night duty went and fetched one as well as the king and queen. He quickly laid her down on the nearest couch. He noticed her breathing was heavier than before. 'She's getting worse, come on Amu, you'll be ok.'

Thankfully the doctor arrived at the door; Ikuto quickly stood up and stepped back for the doctor to do his thing. The doctor put his hand to her forehead, and checked all other things. His mouth was set in a grim line. He turned to face the others:

"Well, it's not incurable, but just consider yourselves lucky. It's a slow-spreading poison meant to kill a person slowly and painfully. You're lucky you found her in time though, because although it's slow, it can cause massive damage to the body."

"But it is treatable?"

"Yes, but while the medicine will help cure her, the pain will still be great. You should watch over her." The man pulled out a small pink vial:

"This is the antidote; I'll give her the first dose. Make sure you give a drop to her every 12 hours." The doctor handed the bottle to Ikuto and placed his hand on the prince's shoulder as he walked out.

"Stay strong your majesty, but be warned… even with this medicine… she might not make it." Ikuto whipped around:

"Wait, what?" The doctor had gone out of the room, just as Amu started to scream and writhe with pain.


	24. Chapter 24

_**Chapter 24**_

Amu was writhing in her bed. No matter what she did the pain wouldn't go away, that burning, no scorching, no it was even worse than scorching. She wanted it to end. She was clawing at her brand. It was so painful; she was blinded by the pain. She didn't hear the door slowly open, it was only until she felt a cool hand gently press against her forehead did she know that someone was there. Another cool hand gently tilted her head back, and the head on her forehead left for a second to pour a cold but bitter liquid down her throat. She coughed a bit, and while the pain was still there, it wasn't as bad as before.

The person slowly closed the door behind him. He leaned against it, looking at the key around his neck. If he had just worn it last night, he would have known that Amu had left the castle, and none of this would have happened. He stared up at the ceiling, still clutching the key. He turned at a noise, Tadase stood there, his big ruby eyes staring up at the prince. He wasn't alone, soon all of the others came.

"How is she?" Utau whispered.

"She's in pain, a lot of it, but thankfully she's not getting any worse. I'm not sure whether she'll make it or not, and that's what frustrates me the most." That's when they heard it, a loud scream. They all rushed into the bedroom.

"Amu!" There stood a figure in the room, a black cape with a large hood covering his whole body. When this figure turned his head towards the friends, they saw his mouth, dripping with blood. Ikuto stepped forward, unsheathing his sword; the other members doing the same.

"Who are you?" Ikuto stepped forward.

"Oh, is this your girl? Hmm, well, I won't do anything yet, but beware." With that, in one big swoop, the mysterious man jumped out the window, and all was silent.

As soon as the threat was sure to be gone, Ikuto rushed over to Amu. She lay there, her hand slightly slashed open, but that was all. Her breathing was heavy, but her face didn't look pale at all. Her skin actually looked more normal, as if she was cured. Slowly, she stirred, and opened her eyes.

Immediately, Amu was pulled into beautiful pools of sapphire. She lost all sense of confusion, she could barely think about anything other than those beautiful eyes. Then she shook herself out of it, and tried to sit up. Only to be gently pushed down. She looked up and this time saw who those eyes belonged to, the prince. Now that she looked, everyone was there, all staring at her worriedly, afraid to touch her as though if they did she would crumble away. When Amu spoke, her voice was a little cracked:

"W-what's wrong guys?" She was answered by being bear-hugged:

"AMU!" All the girls squealed, the boys stood there, smiling happily. Amu was completely confused; she couldn't remember what happened the last few days. Her worried look turned into a smile right away, and she was giggling with the rest of the girls. Ikuto stood there, unsure of what he should do.

"So, what happened the last few days?" The girls looked at eachother:

"You were poisoned." Nadeshiko explained.

"And you should have seen Ikuto, for the first few days he wouldn't even leave your side," Rima devilishly added while smirking. Both Amu and Ikuto simultaneously blushed. Ikuto had just a faint tinge, but Amu's face was starting to become red like a strawberry.

"H-he did?"

"Yup, it was so cute!" Utau squealed. It was official, Amu's face was definitely the color of a strawberry.

"Anyways, what should we do today?" Amu got up, and after a bit of wobbling, she stood up straight. The girls thought about it,

"We were going to let you rest for today." Nadeshiko admitted.

"Yeah, Yaya thinks Amu needs to rest a bit." Amu pouted at Yaya,

"But I'm bored, and I want to go around a bit. Hey maybe we could go to town! Please…." The other girls looked at each other, Amu's puppy eyes were too good to resist. They looked at the boys for help, Tadase stepped forward with his own excellent puppy eyes:

"Amu, we would really like it if you just relax for today so we know that you're completely healed."

"But I want to go." For about a minute it was the battle of the puppy eyes. One of them had to give in, and neither wanted to give in. It was a long and dangerous battle, but in the end, only one could be victorious.

"Fine."

"Yes!" Amu shouted in triumph. She won and she knew it.

"On one condition." Amu stared back at Tadase, but Ikuto stepped in:

"You have to let me and the order of the cat accompany you, got it?" Amu thought about it for a moment, 'should I let them join, or not? I mean after all, we could feel a little restricted of doing girl things with the boys around… but it could also be a different kind of fun too and I'll get to see new things… but who knows what the boys think is fun… but I also don't think they'll take no as an answer… so really I don't really have a choice…. Besides, if we don't think it's fun, we girls can always just give them the slip.'

"I suppose you could accompany us. Right girls?" The others nodded with the exception of Yaya:

"Yay! Yaya gets to go to town again! Yaya thinks it will be super candylicious!" What 'candylicious' meant, none of the other people knew. They just knew that themselves, like Yaya, was totally pumped to go out, even though they were a little worried about Amu.

So off they went, like a cute little group, although they decided to skip the carriage, on Amu's begging. Instead, they rode horses. Amu, Yaya, and Rima had to have their horses led, they didn't know how to ride yet. The knights (plus prince) had promised to teach them how soon, just not at that moment.

The prince took his usual black thoroughbred bred stallion. Amu had this certain love for a light bay Arabian horse, while Rima got another Arabian but hers was a palomino. Yaya took the dapple grey Clydesdale. Nadeshiko had a white Arabian, and Utau a black Frisian. The boys all had blue roan Standardbreds. Amu was being led by Ikuto, Yaya by Kairi, and Rima by Nagihiko. Kukai looked longingly at Utau like he wanted to lead her, and Tadase was lucky enough to at least ride beside Nadeshiko. Amu was smiling next to Ikuto and pointing out beautiful flowers she saw. None of them noticed the figure following behind them at a safe distance.

The path was dusty, but none of them minded, as it was a beautiful sunny day. All around them, birds were chirping, bees buzzing, and butterflies flitting about. Amu stared about in wonder at the trees small green leaves flowing to and fro like a dance partner to the wind. Amu held her hair back, while staring up at the cerulean blue sky with puffs of fluffy white clouds scattered here and there. It was calm and peaceful, yet lively and vivacious all at the same time. 'Only nature could be so unpredictable, no wonder humans can never control it.'

When she lowered her eyes back down to the surroundings, she noticed they were in the town. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at the group. All the townspeople rushed off the street and bowed as they passed.

"You seem very respected in town," Amu whispered. Ikuto shrugged:

"It's the king who is the real respected one, I just happen to be his son." There was a touch of bitterness in the tone of his low voice. Amu looked up at the prince:

"You're being too harsh on yourself, and you know? I think you will be a great king someday, because you are a great prince." Ikuto looked up, surprised. His surprised look turned to a smile though,

"Thanks my little strawberry." Amu pouted:

"I thought you agreed not to call me your little strawberry." Ikuto feigned innocence causing Amu to laugh.

"You're right, I'll just call you that when we are alone together." Amu glared:

"I don't think I will ever want to be alone with you." Ikuto clutched at his heart:

"Oh how you hurt me so!" His smirk at the end ruined it though, and Amu just started laughing.

"Hey Yaya thinks that that candy store looks amazing!" Amu looked to where the young girl was pointing. It wasn't really a candy store but more of patisserie shop. Amu looked at the others:

"Well, should we go?"

"Yeah, why not? I've been craving some crème brûlée anyways," Utau agreed. So off they went to the patisserie shop.


	25. Chapter 25

_**Chapter 25**_

Everyone dismounted, gave their horses to a servant of the shop, and walked in. Immediately they were hit with the harmony of many smells. Chocolate, coffee, vanilla, cinnamon, etc. Amu's mouth instantly started to water at the site of all those beautiful cakes and pastries. Yaya was absolutely going bonkers, looking here and there, looking quite like a hound on the hunt. The girls giggled at Yaya's reaction.

In a few seconds, the shop owner came out. As soon as he laid eyes on the group, his face broke into a grin:

"Itz an honour, truly an honour ov you to be een my leetle shop, eez dere anyting I could get you?" the man bowed.

"Yes, I would like some crème brulee please." Yaya thought about what she wanted:

"I'll take two eclairs please!" Ikuto just took a few pieces of chocolate, Rima a peach tart, Tadase a small vanilla cake, Nadeshiko and Nagihiko a cherry tart, Kukai a crème brulee, Kairi decided on a tiramisu. Amu looked all around for something that caught her eye.

"And vat vould ze young ladee like to eet?" The owner asked. Amu looked for a bit until she saw one: the opera cake. She pointed at it.

"May I please have that one?" The owner looked.

"Ahh, you've gotz a good eye mz. That eez my bezt creation." He got it out for the rosette. After a little argument about who should pay, and Ikuto winning, they went off, happily munching on their treats.

"Wow, the town is really busy today," Amu commented, and it was true. The streets were all a bustle and hustle. Flashes of vibrant color would flash here and then be overlapped by another color there. Many elegant ladies were standing in the dress shops, and many elegant men were talking on the sidewalks. All had on bright, happy faces, their eyes shining, their lips formed upward in joyful smiles. Amu loved that about this town, it was so different from her own gloomy one. That is… until someone made an entrance.


	26. Chapter 26

_**Chapter 26**_

"Make way! Make way! For Lady Saaya Yamabuki, daughter of Lord Yamabuki the honoured knight and Lady Yamabuki friend of the queen, and potentially the future bride of our prince!" Amu was shocked at this one, but when she turned her head to look at Ikuto, he had his head in his hand. That's when Amu saw her, Lady Saaya. Her hair was red and fell into perfect ringlets, and her eyes were the color of the sea, a beautiful emerald green. Her dress was a reddish pink with many diamonds in a rose design going up the side.

"I wish she wouldn't say such things," Ikuto whispered. Amu looked at him:

"You never said that you had a fiancé." Ikuto looked up at Amu.

"That's because I don't." That made Amu confused.

"So then why?"

"She seems to have this delusion that I love her and want to marry her." Amu looked from the prince to Lady Saaya then back to the prince. Utau was snickering right next to them. Ikuto glared at his sister, she really was cruel, she enjoyed every minute of Saaya's torturing Ikuto. Even some of his friends chuckled quietly.

"Such good friends I have," Ikuto grumbled. That's when…3…2...1…

"Ikuto! My love! It's been ever so long since I last saw you! Why haven't you visited!" Saaya came over, and Utau decided to dismount, plus all of the other ladies and men. This meant that Ikuto had no choice but to dismount as well to his doom. As soon as he was off his horse, Lady Saaya tackled him in a big hug.

"Saaya, please I must ask you to let go of me." Saaya looked up into his sapphire eyes.

"But-but-but Ikuto." Saaya whined.

"Please Saaya." That's when Saaya saw Amu.

"Is it because of her," she said pointing at Amu, "has she replaced me?" The lady really did look like she was about to cry... until:

"From now on, you are my rival!" She whipped around and yelled at Amu. Amu didn't have a clue what to say.

"ummm." It was quite awkward for Amu.

"Oh ho ho ho! Speechless? You should consider yourself lucky to be my rival miss…" Everyone sweatdropped except Amu.

"Amu."

"Well, Amu, you are now my rival, and I won't lose to you." With that, Saaya left, leaving Amu confused.

After a few moments of silence, everyone started to laughing and talking, the incident almost completely forgotten by all. It was only Amu who was left still thinking. 'Did I really steal Ikuto from Saaya? Nah, for one, Ikuto doesn't even like me in that way. Although, I guess that would be nice but NO AMU! IKUTO WOULDN'T LIKE YOU IN THAT WAY ANYWAYS SO DON'T GET YOUR HOPES UP! I'm mostly just a prisoner to him.' Unconsciously, Amu held onto the lock that Ikuto had given her. Ikuto noticed this, but decided to wait until they were alone to say anything. It didn't take long for him to get that moment.

"Look! There's supposed to be a special cave up here! Why not go check it out?" Utau pointed to the poster. Everyone shrugged, why not? They had nothing else to do. So off they went.

It was an hour after noon when they got there, and they thankfully saw that there was no one else there.

"So, let's go in pairs of two, that way no one will be lost alone," Ikuto ordered. Instantly, the girls paired up with the boys, Amu didn't understand why. That was when she noticed… she was paired up with the pervert/charming polar prince. Ikuto just stared down at her, his eyes bright with mischief and a smirk on his face.

"Well, I suppose you are stuck with me." Amu gulped at this. She didn't like the way he said it.

"umm, ok." Amu didn't know what else to say, she didn't have anything else to say. It was only until she heard nothing did she notice that the others had already gone into the cave.

"You ready my little prisoner?" Ikuto whispered into her ear. Amu was busy thinking about what the cave would look like. Not satisfied with that reaction, he slowly licked Amu's ear.

"EEEEK! What did you do that for?" Amu asked, holding onto her ear and glaring at the troublemaker in front of her.

"I just wanted to get your attention," Ikuto's voice just screamed fake innocence.

"Let's go into the cave already." So with that Amu stomped into the cave, and a laughing Ikuto followed.

As soon as they were inside the cave, they were enshrouded by darkness. They couldn't hear the sounds of their friends, actually, they couldn't hear anything at all other than themselves. Amu unconsciously held onto Ikuto's arm, a little scared. They kept walking farther ahead, and still couldn't see anything. Just when they were about to give up hope:

"I see a light up ahead, let's follow it and see where it leads," Ikuto pointed out. Amu just nodded her head. They kept walking ahead and when they reached it, they were engulfed in light.


	27. Chapter 27

_**Chapter 27**_

When their eyes adjusted to the light, they were in awe. They were in a cave room filled with crystals. Beautiful different colored crystals reflecting a mysterious light from who knows where shining in. Amu stared around, enchanted by the light from the crystals.

"So, my little prisoner likes what she sees?" Amu turned around and nodded. That's when Ikuto smirked leaned forward and pulled out her locket.

"I see that you like being my prisoner." Amu blushed and turned away.

"W-whatever would give you such a weird idea?" Ikuto smirked and leaned in:

"Who wouldn't love the chance to be close to a prince?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ikuto could tell that she really did mean that. Amu looked up at Ikuto as he stood up and walked a little bit away. She noticed that he really did look majestic. The way his black and black fur edged cape swayed rhythmically from side to side, how his legs were very long but cool. His figure was long and skinny, and the way he walked was relaxed but princely at the same time, everything about him was grandiose. Amu looked away, she knew that she didn't deserve a man like the prince.

She turned her gaze to the crystals, they really were beautiful, each shining like a star in the night sky. 'If only I could be Ikuto sta- wait! What? No no no, there is no way that I could ever be- great, now it sounds like I actually want to be!' By now Amu was in her emo corner, emitting a dark sad aura, and also pounding her fist against the crystals. When she looked up, she noticed it. An egg-shaped pure white crystal, wedged between two other red crystals. She stared up at it, wondering what it could be. Almost like she was in a trance, she started to climb, using the crystals as hand holds. While trying to reach it, she cut her hand open. She winced. While staring down at it, she saw a bit of blood, trickling down, but her mind didn't register it. She kept climbing. Eventually, she reached it, she reached out and grabbed it, but while doing so, her other hand slipped, and Amu lost her balance. The rosette, egg crystal in hand, tumbled down. She closed her eyes, waiting for an impact, but it never came.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" Amu opened her eyes. There was Ikuto, her face inches from hers. He carefully put her down, but he didn't notice that she was bleeding. Amu held up the weird egg-shaped crystal.

"This is cool isn't it?" Ikuto stared at it for a few seconds…

"Where did you find that?" Amu stared down at it.

"It was in a little nook high up in the wall of the cave. I just found it by chance and thought it was interesting, I was thinking about giving it to Utau, I heard she loves crystals like these." Ikuto slowly nodded his head.

"It looks familiar, but… where have I seen it before?" Ikuto felt like there was something that he should remember, but he couldn't remember. He shrugged it off.

"Ikuto, I think we should find a way out." Ikuto nodded his hand, and grabbed her other hand, causing Amu to wince. He looked down at her. That's when the prince noticed her hand.

"When did this happen?" Amu looked down to where he was pointing, and quickly tried to pull her hand away.

"It's nothing, just a tiny cut that's all." Ikuto just looked at her pointedly:

" _That_ ," he pointed to her hand, "is not just a 'tiny cut.' I would call that a gash." Amu looked away, but she sighed:

"You don't have to worry about me."

"You're right, I don't… but I want to." Amu stared at the prince, she didn't get him at all. She remembered how the other people in her old village, how if they saw a cut on her, they would mercilessly make it bigger. That's when she felt a cool hand gently grasp her wrist and pull it away from her. She looked up to see Ikuto pulling out a piece of black cloth and tying it around her hand. Once he was done, he let go and pulled away.

"There, that should at least keep the wound clean." Amu looked down at her hand and then back up to the prince.

"Thank you." Ikuto looked down at her with the kindest smile she had ever seen in her life. It was sweet and gentle, much different from her friends' lively smiles, her mother's motherly smile, and the villagers' cruel smiles. Then Ikuto turned away; Amu felt like she owed him something else. That's when she thought of it. Just as he was about to move away, she hugged him from behind. She hadn't done anything like that since they kissed. In all honesty, when Amu thought back on it, she thought Ikuto might have been drunk at the time. Ikuto stiffened a bit, before relaxing. After a few seconds, Amu pulled away.

"You know, if you wanted to thank me more, a kiss would've been nice."

"Take what you can get your majesty."

"But I get everything my prisoner, and that means you." Ikuto turned around, and leaned close to Amu, then he grabbed her waist gently and pulled her to him, her hands resting on his chest. Amu teasingly pulled away from him:

"No, I think you have it a bit wrong, you can have everything… but me. Take that hug and be satisfied, and if you keep whining like a child… you might not ever get a kiss from me, or even another hug." While the threat was serious to Ikuto, her voice held an amused tone to it. Ikuto just shook his head:

"Fine fine, you win. But I want that little special kiss again my little strawberry."

"Y-you remember that!" Amu's blush was fierce. Ikuto chuckled in response.

"Of course my dear Amu, why would I forget? Especially when you kissed back, proving your love for me. I wouldn't forget it even if you tortured me." Amu, who was completely embarrassed now, just stomped ahead, trying to find an exit. Ikuto just pulled her back to his chest and whispered into her ear:

"Where do you think you're going my little prisoner?" Amu tried to ignore him, but when he started to slowly lick her ear again…

"GAH! You are impossible!" Ikuto shrugged, looking like an innocent child:

"I can't help it, I need attention. And since you are the only one around, you have to give it to me. I am hopeless without it, and you ignoring me, kills me slowly and painfully." Amu sighed, she knew that she couldn't fight back, if she did, he would only find more excuses. She sighed and started to rub his ears.

"How's that for attention?" she grumbled. She didn't receive a response, that was when she heard a purr. She looked back at Ikuto, and noticed how he was swaying on his feet.

"Wait! Don't-" too late, Ikuto had already fallen right on top of her… and they were now in an embarrassing position. Ikuto looked down, dazed.

"What are-"

"You fell on me you idiot!" Amu was blushing as red as strawberry icing. Except the temperature of her face was anything but icy. She could've melted metal with it. Ikuto quickly got off her.

"I am sorry, really." Ikuto looked away, clearly embarrassed. Amu shrugged, her face cooling down a bit.

"Anyways, do you know how to get out of this cave? The others are probably worried about us by now." Ikuto looked around, and spotted an exit. It looked pretty far off, but they had no other choice, so they walked towards it.

After a little bit, they reached the exit. As soon as they reached outside, the others bear hugged the two.

"Where were you guys?! We've been waiting out here for a long time!" Amu shrugged, blushing slightly, remembering all that had happened.

"We just got a little lost, that's all. Anyways, how was it for you?"

"It was fine until we realized that we couldn't find you guys," Utau grumbled.

"Sorry about that. Are you guys ready to go? We should probably head back to the castle." The others nodded, and off they went.

 _ **In the Girls' Bedroom**_

"Utau, does Ikuto…um… does he…" The other girls waited, expecting something completely different from what Amu was about to say.

"Spit it out!" They all screamed.

"Does Ikuto fall over when you touch his ears?" All the girls fell over, with sweatdrops. After she recovered, Utau responded.

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Well, because Ikuto… um… he kind of did."

"What do you mean by that?"

"He wouldn't leave me alone, so I started to rub his ears, and he… and he… He fell on top of me!" Amu said the last part in a rush, her cheeks a flame. The others stared at her…3…2…1

"Ha ha ha ha!" They all started to laugh, and then chat about it, Amu eager to change the subject, pulled out an egg.

"Utau, you said you liked to collect eggs, and when I found this, I thought of you. I'm sorry girls that I didn't find some crystals for you, but that was the only one that wasn't attached to the wall." Utau stared at it for a few seconds, then got an idea. She pulled out a big box that held different slots, in those slots were different colored eggs. She pulled them all out.

"Ok girls, each one of you pick as many crystal eggs as you want." The girls stared at them for a moment and picked. Utau placed the pure white egg into a glass case:

"This egg will be for all of us."

Rima chose a crystal that was both red and white but in the middle shone like a kaleidoscope of pink, green, and purple. Yaya's egg was pink with bits of red and yellow that shone. Nadeshiko's egg was pink with iridescent purple. Utau picked two one light pink and white, another dark pink and black. Amu looked at the three remaining eggs. They were all so interesting, but she didn't know which one to pick. She was deciding between a bubblegum pink and black crystal, a blue and black, or a green and black crystal egg.

"So what did you decide Amu?" Utau asked.

"I'm not sure which of these three I should choose."

"Then have all three." Amu snapped her head up to Utau.

"But I can't! These are yours!" Utau just waved her hand at that:

"I can always get more if I want. Just take them Amu."

"But I don't think I should!"

"Take them!"

"No!"

"FOR GOSH SAKE JUST TAKE THE STUPID EGGS!" Everyone started to giggle, the two were fighting over crystal eggs. Nope, definitely never saw that one before. But little did they know, that someone was watching them in the shadows.


	28. Chapter 28

_**Chapter 28**_

"I want you to meet my mother girls." Utau told her friends. Amu looked up, scared. She slowly walked out while the other girls were talking. She was going through memory lane.

 _ **Memories**_

 _"Stay away from my children!" A mother was yelling at the young child that was Amu._

 _"Keep your freakiness to yourself!" The whispers, the attempting to hide the cold glares with an emotionless mask._

 _"I thought I told you to stay away from that freak," one mother told her daughter while yanking the child away by the arm. Another woman coming up and slapping Amu in the face for coming too close to her children._

 _"If that freak ever comes close to you, throw stones at her or hurt her or whatever it takes to keep her away." Another mother whispered as she pulled her son away. Slowly after many biting comments, all the mothers and children dispersed, leaving an alone Amu, rubbing away at her crying eyes with her fist._

 _Then her mother appeared kneeling down and gently wiping away Amu's tears. Amu's hands dropped down to her side, her eyes wide staring up at her mother, still sniffling._

" _Mama?"_

" _Yes Amu?" Her mother looked up at Amu._

" _Did I do something wrong?" Her mother's eyes softened, little tears glistening in them._

" _No Amu, you didn't do anything wrong."_

" _Then why?" Her mother was silent for a moment, contemplating what she should say to the young girl. At last, she answered:_

" _Don't let what they do get you down. They aren't worth thinking about." Then Midori stood up and held out her hand to her daughter. Amu looked up, then closed her eyes and smiled, laughing as she took her mother's hand._

 _ **End Memories**_

 __Amu had tears streaming down her face, she missed her mother's soft caresses, how she always smiled with her whole heart, and always tried to bring a smile to Amu's face. Amu was brought out of her reverie when Yaya stood beside her.

Amu turned her head to look at the usually cheery lady.

"You've felt it too haven't you?"

Amu stared at her friend, unsure what to say, she didn't know what Yaya meant.

"You've felt the sting of losing your mother, but remember the warmth you always felt around her." Amu stared ahead at the beautiful morning sun like her friend.

"Yeah, I have." Now Yaya turned her head to look at Amu:

"But you know, my mother always said one thing. 'too always look at the beautiful things you have and keep smiling at those.' So Yaya's decided to do that. Yaya will keep smiling no matter what, and you know what Yaya thinks? Yaya thinks that Amu's mama would have wanted that for Amu to." Amu just kept staring ahead, leaning forward on her elbows and looking out the balcony. She could still vividly remember how her mother would always nurse her wounds after the villagers.

"I guess, but- I'm scared. I-"

"No! No! No! Yaya doesn't think that works at all! Yaya thinks that there should be no 'buts' they're gross! Yaya wants you to be brave and face your fears!" Amu whipped around at that, shocked, her eyes wide.

"You're right Yaya." Yaya smiled up at Amu.

"Let's go to the others, they're probably wondering where we are." Amu smiled back and started to walk with Yaya to their bedroom. The others looked up when the two walked in.

"Where did you guys go?" Rima asked.

"Umm, well…" Amu stuttered.

"Don't worry, you don't have to tell us if you don't want to." Nadeshiko reassured, she had the look as if she knew what happened and understood.

"Well, as long as you're ok now, everything's good right?" Utau put in. Amu looked at the four girls who were getting ready to meet the queen. Amu smiled, 'I am so lucky to have such great friends.'

"What are you smiling about?" Rima stopped, looking up at Amu. Amu just shook her head:

"Oh, nothing. Come on, let's get ready to go meet her majesty."

 _ **After about 20 minutes**_

The girls were finally ready to go, each one wearing the gown that they wore to the masquerade, just without the mask.

"Hey girls, you remember the boys we danced with at that masquerade ball?" Amu asked. The other girls nodded.

"Yeah, why?"

"Have you seen them again?" The others shook their heads.

"I don't even know what his name was, he refused to give it to me." Utau informed Amu. Amu stared off into space, remembering the charming masked Claw. He was wonderful, she liked Ikuto, but she also liked Claw. 'I can't completely pledge my love to the prince yet. It wouldn't be fair, for me to ruin Ikuto's life if I told him I loved him when I still have feelings for Claw. That's why I can't kiss him again, not until I see Claw again.' Amu looked at the girls, they were all daydreaming of that special masked man that they had met.

"Come on girls, weren't we going to go see the queen?" Amu asked, waking them out of it.

"You're right! Maybe we could ask mother about having another masquerade ball!" The others smiled at this as they made their way to see the queen.

When they reached the door to the drawing room, Utau slowly opened it. There stood her mother looking down into the garden. She turned at the sound of the door.

"hi mother."

"Good morning Queen Souko," the others said, all curtseying, Amu unsure what was happening followed the other girls' example. The queen chuckled:

"Just call me Souko girls, or mother like Utau does, I don't mind." Amu looked up, and almost instantly saw an image of her mother. She looked at the queen and could now see what she looked like, she actually did look a lot like Utau. She had lavender eyes with long flowing brown hair, the light pink dress she wore made her look like a fairy queen. Amu stared in awe at Souko, this was the first mother, that wasn't her own, who acted with kindness towards Amu.

"So mother, we were all wondering… do you think you could invite all the people from the last masquerade ball and have another one?" The queen thought about this request for a bit:

"Why do you want one?"

"We found this mysterious man, and we have no idea who they are." The queen thought about it some more.

"Please Souko! I need to know my feelings about that man!" Amu burst out, then realizing what she said, apologizing.

"No, don't apologize, it's fine, you were just speaking your mind. Alright, I'll do whatever I can to get this ball ready for you girls. Now come on, let's have a bit of girl time." Souko got up and led the girls into the garden.

Amu immediately started to act like a child in there, running around among the flowers skipping on the stones. The girls just stared, but the queen smiled.

"Guys! Look over here at this creature! It hops so funny!" The girls followed, when they saw what Amu was pointing at, they laughed.

"That's a toad Amu."

"It's cute though." This caused the other girls to laugh some more. That's when Amu ran over to the fountain. She stood up on the edge and started to balance on it.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Amu," Utau warned. Amu ignored the blonde. That's when her foot slipped and she fell into it, becoming completely drenched. Utau rushed over to help the rosette out of the water.

"Are you ok?" she asked. Amu smirked and pulled her into the water with her.

"Eek!" Utau and Amu started to splash each other with water, the other girls were now laughing at the two. This caused the two wet girls to smirk devilishly and splash them. Now all the girls were running and giggling and squealing. Souko just stood off to the side watching them all play. 'That Amu, she is definitely different, but it's refreshing. It's been a while since I saw such a pure and innocent child.'

After a while, all the girls had become dry and all but Amu were lying on the grass, exhausted. Amu was still looking at the whole garden, hopping from one side to the other, always finding something to admire. The queen was watching the young rosette, 'yes, she really is a special girl. Utau is lucky to have made a friend in her. But there's something there, I fear that we will all have to protect that innocence of hers. I'm worried.'


	29. Chapter 29

**Sorry I couldn't post yesterday, my internet was terrible, I was really close to murdering my computer.**

 _ **Chapter 29**_

The queen was true in her promise, and a ball was held a week afterwards. All the girls were excitedly getting ready, wearing the same clothes as last time. They quickly scrambled as fast as they could to the ball room. Once they appeared within three feet of the staircase, they slowed to a respectable walk. They slowly walked down the staircase, making their presence known. Amu quickly scanned the crowd for Claw, she was worried that he wouldn't come. She finally found him, but he was within a huge crowd of girls. She smiled at this, but decided to not come close. The other girls were already with the boys from last time.

That's when Amu saw Claw extracting himself from the crowd. Amu looked away, thinking that he wouldn't come near her. That's when she felt a tap at her shoulder, Amu turned to see Claw. She gasped:

"Claw!" The man smiled. "I'm so glad that you came!"

"I'm glad you think that way, will you honor me with this next dance?"

"Of course Claw, I always love an excuse to dance." Claw laughed.

"Well Lady Strawberry, now that I know that, I'll take you up with it more often." Amu smiled, but inside, her heart was in a turmoil. 'He makes my heart flutter just as much as Prince Ikuto, what do I do?' Amu couldn't help but gladly take Claw's arm. The other girl's looked at the two for some reason, as if they knew a happy secret. Amu didn't understand it at all. She shrugged it off, 'I knew it. My friends are lunatics.'

Claw led her to the dancefloor, then placed her hands on his waist. Amu felt completely relaxed as the sweet melody started up. Claw smiled down at the girl in his arms, she truly was special. No other girl could make him feel this way, and girls have tried. They all wished to impress him with their splendor and shine, but somehow, just by being her, she won his heart. And he knew it. Claw loved Lady Strawberry.

"Claw?" It was small, barely anything more than a whisper.

"Yes my lady?"

"This might be the last day that I see you, so I was wondering if we could reveal who we truly are at the end of this night." Claw smiled.

"Ummm, never mind, sorry." Amu looked away, 'I want to know who you are, but… what if knowing who you are only puts my heart into an even greater turmoil than it already is?' The song ended and Claw was once again, surrounded by a bunch of girls and Amu was elbowed out of the way. Amu walked over to her friends who were sitting alone now.

"Hey girls, where are the men you were with?" All the girls pointed to the gaggle of girls. The poor men were trying to help out poor Claw. Amu couldn't help but giggle, she was also thankful she wasn't stuck in there. That's when Amu saw it, a flicker of light from outside. She pulled the other girls to it.

"Look! Isn't it beautiful!" The other girls looked at her.

"It's the same fountain we see every day," Utau deadpanned. Amu shook her head:

"But look, it's lit up differently, and look at all these flowers hung around the rim!"

"Yaya sees it and Yaya thinks Amu is right! It's beautiful!" The other girls smiled at the two ogling girls. Soon, they were pulled into admiring it too, they couldn't help it. Soon they were all stunned how the garden looked. They started to twirl and spin and dance around the garden fountain to the music. They didn't realize that some men had joined up with them, until they were lifted up and spun around. They each looked down into the eyes of their partners from before.

It was a beautiful night, but unfortunately, like all fairytales, the magic has to end. And at midnight, the spell was broken and all were sent home. The girls walked into the bedroom and flopped onto their beds, smiling. For it was, 'a lovely night.'


	30. Chapter 30

**Read this chapter while listening to 'Angel in Blue Jeans' Nightcore (the song actually has a girl with pink hair on the cover as well coincidently)**

 _ **Chapter 30**_

Amu was a little disappointed that she wasn't able to see who Claw was, and now she was even more confused about her feelings. 'Do I love Claw, or Ikuto?' Amu sighed as she stared out the window, it was raining. That's when she realized, it was raining! Amu rushed into a more suitable outfit, and hurried outside into the garden. She stood out in the rain for a bit, soaking it up, then she started to jump around, laughing and being wild and crazy. She jumped onto the rim of the fountain and started to twirl around on it. She then ran over to the tree and spun around it, with one arm hanging onto it. She stepped from puddle to puddle, making a dance to it, using the sound of falling rain as a rhythm.

Utau was walking past the window when she saw her. Amu was having such a great time, that Utau decided to run out and join her. Amu looked at the princess, and gave her a big and cute smile. She grabbed the girl's two hands and dragged her around. Utau soon got the rhythm out of the random seeming dance. Soon the two were in harmony, dancing around. They started to circle each other, and do the opposite gestures. Amu would lean to the right, Utau the left. They would both pirouette and go on their tip-toes and extending out their other leg in the air.

Yaya was looking for Amu when she looked out the window, she noticed the two girls dancing outside. She immediately rushed outside and joined in. They both started to skip in a certain beat, then they went into a circle and started to move in and out, lifting and lowering their hands. They clasped them together and started to move counter-clockwise. They were all smiling, their eyes bright, the rest of them: soaked. They didn't care though; they were too happy.

Rima was so frustrated, the maids kept telling these stupid jokes. Not only were they not funny, they also delivered the punch line at the wrong time. Rima was just so frustrated that she threw her pillow against the window. She groaned, now she didn't have any pillow to punch. Rima huffily got up and grabbed the pillow, when she straightened up, she saw three figures in the rain. When she looked more closely, she saw it was Amu, Utau, and Yaya. They looked so happy, that Rima was drawn in. Before she knew it, she was hurrying to them, hiking up her skirts as she ran through the hall. As soon as she got to the garden, Amu held out her hand, welcoming Rima to join in. Rima took it and was pulled in. The girls were all doing a dance around the fountain. Hopping onto the rim, and stepping off at different times.

Nadeshiko was looking for the other girls, that's when she spotted them when she looked down from the balcony. There they were, dancing. Nadeshiko smiled, and couldn't help but wish to join them. The seamstress hurried down to join up with her friends. The other girls looked at her and smiled widely, all laughing. Nadeshiko looked at them for a few moments, then jumped in. They were now all dancing in a pattern that was the shape of a swirling flower.

Amu was completely pulled into it, closing her eyes to hear the music of the rain. This is something her mother taught her, they used to do it all the time. It was one of their favorite things. Amu let the soft pattering guide her to what step to do next, this wasn't the music of man, this was the pure harmony of nature: the beauty of it marveled Amu. Amu twisted this way and that, her feet stepping to the beat, she could hear her friends next to her. Her pink hair flowing behind her, her soaked dress still swaying this way and that. They all did leaps and twirls, hops and steps.

Amu opened her eyes and looked at her friends, they were enjoying themselves so much. This caused Amu smile even wider, all remnant sadness instantly vanishing. She closed her eyes once again, and her dance became even more beautiful, pure happiness radiating from within her. To most people, the rain was sad, but that wasn't the same for Amu. To Amu, the rainy days were best in her life. It was now made even more special, filled with memories of her mother and now her best friends. She felt like a child again, dancing and frolicking to her hearts content.

The rain seems to take away all your troubles. The rain wipes it away as it falls, leaving you feeling free. Amu hopped into one puddle, only to skip into the next. Amu craned her head back and slowly opened her eyes to watch the rain fall onto her face. She smiled, embracing the cool drops. The other girls unknowingly followed suit. The others had never realized the joy of rain before. Utau turned her eyes heavenward, 'Amu really is a special girl.' Rima realized that her frustration from this morning vanished, she smiled even broader at this, realizing how lucky she was to have Amu as her friend. Yaya knew that she was glad that she chose to be with Amu. She had known this from the very beginning though. Nadeshiko fully realized what the beauty of dance could bring, and she realized that she would never have known this had it not been for Amu. All the girls then felt odd…

"Achoo!" They then all started laughing between their many sneezes.


	31. Chapter 31

**Please review**

 _ **Chapter 31**_

All the girls had finally fully recovered after their cold from dancing in the rain. They didn't mind it though; they had never felt happier. They were still laughing about it, even after 5 days. They were perfectly fine now, and were currently in the garden with the queen. They all decided to draw some of the flowers there. Amu was struggling at this; she had never drawn before. Ha! She barely even knew how to hold a writing utensil. Nadeshiko looked up from her drawing to glance over at the rosette.

When she saw the poor attempt at a lily, she couldn't help but giggle. Amu looked up, poutingly, at Nadeshiko:

"Don't laugh Nadeshiko, I've never done this before."

"That's-" Nadeshiko couldn't finish because someone came into the garden.

"Queen Souko! It's a pleasure to meet my future mother again!" A squeal came from behind. The girls didn't even have to turn around to know who it was. Only one girl would say something like that and it was…

"Hello my dear Saaya, and how are you doing this morning?" Souko responded, a little forced, but Saaya didn't notice. That's when Saaya noticed Amu:

"Oh ho ho ho! You are drawing? Well, it's ok, but I can do so much better! Oh ho ho ho!" Amu looked up, a mischievous look in her eye. She then handed the lady a sketchpad and utensil. Saaya looked at it, then up at Amu.

"Pick a flower and draw it Saaya, let's see how much better you are." Saaya looked at it then set to work, picking a red rose with thorns to draw. Amu set to work making her own drawing look better. The other four girls looked at each other, they weren't sure what to do… or say for that matter. The queen just looked on at all the girls while smiling; she was interested to see what would happen. She noticed her daughter looked unsure of whether it was a laughing or serious matter.

The two girls were ferociously drawing, as though their life depended on it. Hands were flying everywhere, brows knitted together with tiny beads of sweat, lips were being chewed slightly, and eyes concentrated on the paper. Finally they both stood up:

"Done!" They then showed them to the crowd of five ladies and queen. All six sweatdropped, although the queen did it discreetly, when they saw the drawings. To put it nicely, Saaya's rose looked like a shriveled up cabbage, and Amu's lily looked like an empty banana peel. They looked at each other, Amu knew that she was beaten, 'might as well keep up the act, I started the act, now I have to finish it.'

"I won! I clearly have the better picture!" Saaya declared.

"They both look pretty bad to me," Rima whispered just barely so only the other five ladies could hear. Utau snorted, Yaya erupted into laughter, Nadeshiko hid her smile behind her hand, even the queen had trouble keeping a straight face. Saaya looked at the ladies with an insulted face:

"Is something funny? You should speak to your future queen with respect!" Utau stepped up, a touch annoyed.

"And what makes you think that you will be the future queen?" Saaya flipped her hair at that:

"Because the prince loves me, obviously."

"I think it's more obvious that my brother loves Amu." Amu started to blush furiously.

"U-Utau you shouldn't say such things-"

"Whatever, even if Amu is winning right now, I _will_ win later." With that, Saaya snapped her fingers, and a group of hot soldiers picked up the lady and walked off. Everyone looked at each other, not sure what to think of that.

Amu shrugged and kept working on her drawing, she didn't know how to fix it. After a while she set the paper down and sat next to the fountain. She looked down into the water, watching the ripples caused by the falling streams. That's when Amu got an idea:

"Hey girls! How about we go for a walk in the woods?" The other girls thought about it. At last, Utau stood up and stretched:

"That sounds great!"

"Yes, a nice walk would be quite refreshing after sitting around almost all morning," Nadeshiko agreed.

"Yaya thinks that Yaya wants to go into the forest too!" Rima was silent throughout all this, she never really liked exercise. Amu noticed this:

"Rima, if you get tired while we're out, I'll carry you back." Rima still was a bit hesitant, but after a while and a few puppy eyes:

"Fine." Amu, Yaya, and Utau cheered, and Nadeshiko gave a wide smile. Rima sighed, 'at least they are happy, but did it really have to be walking?' Amu saw Rima's expression and laughed. She then grabbed her arm, and happily dragged her along. Rima reluctantly ran with Amu, huffing along.

They were running along the path, Amu jumped off the path, and ran into the woods.

"Hey where are you going Amu?" Amu turned around, running backwards to respond:

"I-Ahh!" She accidently fell into the stream. Splash! While the other girls were laughing, Amu was reminded of something. **(I recoment listening to Nightcore Polka Polka Polka while you read this part)** She started to splash some more, she smiled and got up. She started to jump around to a beat, and hummed a tune. The other girls looked at her. She waved at them to dance with her. They looked at her, unsure. Amu started to twirl around in the stream. Putting her arms this way and then that. Yaya looked at her and smiled wide. She jumped into the stream and started to dance along with the rosette. Nadeshiko smiled, she loved to dance. 'I've heard of a lot of types of dances: waltz, foxtrot, but I've never heard of a spring dance.' She joined in on the dancing. Surprised to see how amazing it was. Utau looked at the others and joined in almost right after Nadeshiko. Only Rima was left now. She looked at the others cautiously. She wasn't sure what to do. 'To join or not to join, that is the question.' After a few seconds…. 'join.' She jumped into the water, and started to dance with the girls. All the girls were laughing and dancing. Creating harmonic splashes, synchronizing the pattern, going round and round each other.

Amu smiled, looking around at all the girls dancing. They looked happy, she could never tell though. She was terrible at reading expressions. They were laughing though, so Amu took that as a good sign. She then went back to fully paying attention to the music they were making and the dance. They girls were dancing in the shape of mini clovers. They jumped from rock to rock, then back to the water, then to another rock **.** Amu looked at the sky. It was about mid-day. Then she heard her stomach grumble, she slowed her dancing to a halt. **(ok, you can stop the polka music)**

"Let's go back girls, I'm getting kind of hungry." The other girls blushed when they heard theirs as well. So off they went. That's when Amu noticed that Rima couldn't keep up with the others. She knelt down. Rima looked at the rosette.

"Get on, you're tired aren't you?" Rima nodded. "Then come on, I did promise you that after all." Rima nodded again. So off they went back to the castle.

That's when they heard it. An ominous rustling.Amu looked around for any signs of suspicious people. She saw none. That's when she saw it, a needle, flying towards them at a great speed. It was aimed right at Utau.

"Duck!" She tackled the princess down as the needle whizzed by them. Amu jerked her head up. She narrowed her eyes.

"Come out! Face us like a man!" They heard laughing behind them. Amu whipped around. There he was, the mayor. He looked the same as last time, but his smile was even more grotesque.

"Well, well, well. I didn't think you would survive that poison I gave you. Well, doesn't matter. I put to death the people that made it. Besides, I'll kill you a different way."

"What happened to the children?" The mayor looked at Amu, as though he was bored.

"Those worthless things? The parents changed their minds at the last second. They're starving now, but most of them still have their children. A few of the kids had already been slaughtered. Those cowards, couldn't handle the sound of slaughtered children and the screams that echoed through the night. I don't understand why though, I found it… refreshing." Amu glared at the disgusting man. The other girls backed up, Amu stepped in front of them as though as to protect them. Utau was afraid of this man, if he could hear children's screams while laughing, he could easily kill them right now. 'So what's stopping him?' Rima looked at him angrily, she wanted to punch, kick, do anything to him. She couldn't though, it wouldn't be possible, he was a big pyschomaniac-pyshcopathic-murdering-crazy-madman. 'And I'm just a small and short princess.' She looked at the others, they were all scared, but not as much as Amu. She was pale and quivering like a leaf in the wind. Yaya was frightened like a child, she had heard of these people, you would never be able to get away from them. She was clutching onto Nadeshiko's sleeve like it was a lifeline. Nadeshiko was looking at Amu, hoping she had a plan. She couldn't seem weak though, she knew that it was just what that madman wanted. 'I hope Amu has a plan, because I have no idea what to do.' Amu glared at the mayor, 'I have to protect these girls no matter what.' That's when she knew what she had to do. From behind her back, she picked up a rock. It had gotten stuck in the belt from when she was in the stream.

"Why them?" The mayor smirked at this question.

"Because you involved them. As soon as you became their friend, you put them on the board as a target." Amu took a step back. Then regaining herself, she chucked the rock. It hit the man right in the… ahem… you know what I mean. The mayor doubled over in pain, holding his precious jewels.

"Run!" All the girls ran, but they were in dresses, and weighed down from being tired and wet. Soon the crazed madman was on their heels. He threw something black at them. The girls dodged, but a poof of smoke appeared. Amu realized what it was a second too late. Her vision was growing blurry and dark. The rosette started to sway on her feet, trying but failing to stay awake. All of the other girls had already fallen to the smoke. She looked wildly around, blinded by the smoke and her fuzzy brain. She felt a blow, then nothing. She collapsed on the ground, the mayor standing behind her, a cloth covering his face.


	32. Chapter 32

_**Chapter 32**_

Amu awoke to the sounds of hammers. She felt cold stones underneath. Her vision slowly opened to black to blurred colors, no color. The grey soon came to focus around her and she saw that she was tied up in a grey brick room, with only one window way high up and a small door. That's when she noticed her friends on the ground with her, groaning as they slowly gained consciousness. Amu instantly felt grief and regret, 'It's all my fault that they are here,' But as they all became fully awake, one thought came to mind.

"Where are we?"

 _ **With The Order of the Cat**_

"Where are they?"

 **Oh yeah the men appear again! Sorry it was so short, I just needed a break but I still wanted to give you a chapter.**


	33. Chapter 33

_**Chapter 33**_

Ikuto was pacing about. He was completely worried.

"Where are they? My mother said that they went out early this morning, but it's past sun down already. Where could they be?" The four knights were sitting at the round mahogany table, trying to look as calm as possible. Although, they would never admit it, but they too were worried. The girls would never stay out so long on their own. Ikuto also knew that at least Amu was outside the castle, because his Dumpty key glowed a faint hue.

"Just keep your head, don't go jumping to conclusions. How about we go search for them. Alright?" Tadase suggested. Ikuto sighed.

"You're right." So they all stood up and went out of the castle walls to search for Amu and the other girls.

 _ **Meanwhile**_

Amu was by now feeling completely guilty; the other girls were in a life-or-death situation because of her. 'I just couldn't keep others away could I?'

"It's not your fault." Amu looked up at Utau.

"W-"

"It's written all over your face, you're thinking, 'It's all your fault that the other girls are in this situation.' Well it's not Amu. I chose, just as the others all did, we chose to be with you." Amu looked away, hiding her face from the others:

"But you didn't know my situation, if you did-"

"We would have still have chosen to be with you," Nadeshiko interrupted.

"Yeah! We'll get through this together!" Yaya added. Rima was silent.

"Rima, arent' you going to say something?!" Utau scolded.

"Shh, I think I hear someone coming." Rima was leaning her head to the source of the noise. Suddenly a door opened. Amu peered into the malicious eyes of the mayor.

"You were a naughty girl Amu, running away like that, then refusing to take your punishment and dying of the poison. Now you'll have to suffer a worse death. He grabbed the rosette by neck, choking her slightly, and threw her against the wall. He walked up to the injured girl and grabbed her wrists and put them into the hand clasps on the wall, he then did the same to her feet. He pulled out a dagger next. Amu eyed the weapon with fear. He grinned maniacally. He drew a long line across her arm, relishing how the scream forced itself out of her mouth. The other girls watched in horror.

"Please! Don't torture Amu!" Yaya cried. Slowly, the mayor turned his eyes upon the lady.

"You wish to take her place? Fine! Perfect actually!" He unclasped Amu from the wall, and she fell helpless to the floor. He kicked her away, and grabbed Yaya and forcefully clasped her to the wall. He then slowly drew a long line across the lady's stomach, making Yaya scream out in anguish. Amu couldn't bear to watch such a thing happen to her friend. 'It's all my fault.'

"Stop! Please don't hurt her anymore, don't hurt my friends! Do it to me instead! They don't deserve such a punishment for something they didn't do!" Yaya looked at Amu, as if to say, 'please don't offer yourself for me. I don't want my friend to be hurt.' But Amu turned her face away to look glaringly at the mayor.

"You want to be punished?" He asked in a jeering way. Amu only squared herself up and looked defiantly at the disgusting man.

"Yes, I, Amu Hinamori, give myself up to you as a prisoner to be tortured in exchange that my friends aren't touched."

"Amu, don't do it!" her friends screamed. But the mayor looked sickeningly triumphant in his madman way.

"Well, I accept Amu Hinamori." He unclasped Yaya, and clasped Amu up again. However, he put away his knife in exchange for something else. He pulled out a curious little blood red crystal circlet which he placed upon Amu's head. As soon as it was on, her face became one of horror, then of excruciating pain as her eyes became clouded and first whimpers, then blood-curdling screams.

Amu was seeing all sorts of memories, but not just seeing them, hearing them, smelling them, feeling them. It was as though she were in the persons' place, for not all the memories were her own.

 _ **Memory**_

"You're so funny!" A girl was laughing, as she went off to go see another man. The man looked down, at his hands which were now starting to be beaded with tears. He screamed in agony, trying to rid himself of the pain in his heart. _Amu felt her head being forced up as the scream rose from her throat. 'What's happening? Am I this man right now? Is that why I feel pain in my heart?'_ The man/Amu looked at his hands, then they clenched. He looked after the girl in defiance.

"It's all that man's fault! He took you away, filling your head with lies! I will slay that monster for you my love!" He/Amu ran to his house to stay until nightfall. As soon as the sun's protective glow faded, he slipped out into the dark of the night. Not even the moon and stars dared to shine for the lovesick man. He threw his cloak around his shoulders and slipped something under it. The hood was up so that there was no one who could see his face.

He went out into the night to a large house, he snuck in. There was sitting the man he loathed, calmly without a care in the world. _Amu felt a rush of pure rage rip throughout her body, the wanting to rip and tear apart this man._ The man/Amu started to sneak up behind his victim. Just as he raised the knife, high over his head. His "victim" whipped around, holding a knife to the man's/Amu's throat. _'He looks just like Ikuto!' Amu would have gasped had she been in control of her body._

"You've taken this too far Kazuomi. Guards! Escort this man out of this land!" Guards immediately rushed upon the man/Amu and roughly grabbed him. The man/Amu glared at the Ikuto-impersonator.

"You can never have Souko's heart! It belongs to me! You just tricked her with your deceitful whispers! I will have my revenge Aruto!" The Ikuto-impersonator/Aruto looked away:

"I'm sorry it had to come to this Hoshina, I had truly hoped we could get along," he then looked straight into the man's/Amu's eyes:

"But I will protect Souko from you, for you do not truly love her! If you did, you would have respected her wishes." Aruto then walked away, leaving the man/Amu kicking and screaming as the guards dragged him out. _Amu felt her angry heart blacken with hatred. Then nothing._

 _ **End Memory**_

For a few seconds, she saw her friends anguished faces screaming for her. Amu looked at them sadly. Then everything went white as another memory started to appear.

 _ **Memory**_

Amu was walking the dark forest, staring up at the moon. She was a woman this time, but this time she was wearing black. A dark voice emerged from her throat:

"Don't worry dear child, I will find a way to regain what should have been mine." The woman/Amu looked down at a young girl.

"But- Auntie, what will you do? My father is the king."

"Oh, little niece, you're right, I can't do much. I can say this much though; the others will regret skipping over me. I should have been queen. Oh little Rima, I wish I didn't have to involve you, but… oh well." _Amu felt disappointment hidden beneath all that anger and hatred._

 _Suddenly, Amu fully saw the woman she had been, it seemed she was now Rima._ The woman looked scary, Rima/Amu was quaking with fear, she took a step back. The woman loomed over her.

"No, please! Stay away from me!" Rima/Amu scrambled back, but she couldn't get back quick enough. Her aunt grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her all the way to the aunt's special tower, and locked her into a dark room all alone.

"Stay there." The aunt glared before she slowly closed the door. Rima/Amu started to cry. Small teardrops fell onto the floor, as she curled up in a ball, trying to ignore the scurrying of rats above and the creepy shadows.

"Mommy!" Rima/Amu cried out before everything went black.

 _ **End Memory**_

Amu's vision went to normal, she felt tears fall from her cheeks, and sweat drip from her brow. Her head felt like it was slowly about to burst. It was excruciating, she didn't feel it long though, as her vision went white again.

 _ **Memory**_

 _Amu was in a dark room, but she wasn't alone, there were others too. Amu looked down at a spinning wheel._

"Utau, you shall not exit this room ever! But while you're here, you can spin all of this gold thread for me. Remember, you're my slave now." Utau/Amu looked up, tears in her eyes at the tall woman in front of her:

"B-but I don't know how to-"

"Stupid girl! How dare you defy your master! You are my slave so you shall do it without questions!" The woman brought her big hand down and slapped the girl across the face. Then brought up a small knife:

"I won't put it on your record now, but for each time you disobey me, you will get one talley-mark on your ankle. So I suggest you obey me." _Amu felt fear and hopelessness as tears brimmed in her eyes._

 _Thankfully that memory was ending._

 _ **End Memory**_

Amu looked at all the girls, they looked like they wanted to reach out and save her, but they were tied up. Her voice showing her pain and weakness, she tried to comfort them:

"Don't worry girls, it'll all be-" Another memory stopped her from finishing her sentence.

 _ **Memory**_

 _Amu was walking through the forest, holding the hand of a boy who looked awfully like Nagihiko. She felt reassured with the boy, but fear was still there._

"Hey Nadeshiko?" Nadeshiko/Amu looked at Nagihiko.

"Yes?"

"Do you know where we are?"

"No, I hope our stepmother is right about there being a cherry blossom field somewhere near hear." Suddenly, a hoot came out of nowhere. Then a growl and a rustle. The two children looked at each other and screamed.

 _ **End Memory**_

 __Amu's vision was starting to go blurry, she could faintly hear something in the background, but she couldn't make it out, her head felt like it was swimming mixed with pain. Her vision went white again.

 _ **Memory**_

 _Amu was running through the woods, feeling much shorter. When she passed by a pond, she saw the reflection of not herself, but Yaya._ Yaya/Amu was running through the woods; people were chasing after her. Her stepmother had just falsely accused Yaya/Amu of something to get the people to try to kill her. Her stepmother had been jealous of Yaya's/Amu's cuteness, and the stepmother, to preserve her vanity decided to get rid of her. That's when she heard two voices, scared, she ran away in another direction. She was running along the road, the mob of villagers after her.

"You killed your father and brother!"

"You monster!" Yaya/Amu looked back at the villagers, tears in her eyes and betrayal stinging her heart. She felt the sting of pain so strong, she just lost her father and brother to her stepmother then was framed for it. She was now forced from her home to go who knows where? She felt like committing suicide.

"Why can't I die instead?!" She screamed.

 _ **End Memory**_

Amu could barely even open her eyes now, she felt so weak, she couldn't even hold up her head.

 _ **Memory**_

 _Amu felt white hot flames lick at her legs. She looked down and screamed, her eyes wide with horror._

"So Tsumugu, are you ready to die?" _Amu felt her head lifting up._ Tsumugu/Amu glared at Kazuomi.

"Why do you do this?" Hoshina nonchalantly glanced at his fingernails, casually leaning against a brick wall.

"Why? Well, first because you still defy me. Second, because you are one of the best knights and best friends of my most hated enemy. You are only the beginning of my revenge on that man. Don't worry, there's more to come." The mayor started to laugh maniacally. Tsumugu/Amu saw his wife, Midori, staring in horror, being held back by the crowd. The flames started to slowly engulf his body, pain shooting up, not just pain, it was excruciating. Tsumugu/Amu started to scream except the smoke choked him, a sooty taste filling his mouth, a deafening roaring was in his ears. Tsumugu/Amu looked up to the gray sky above, closing his eyes, excepting his fate when-

 _ **End Memory**_

Suddenly, Amu felt a wind whip over her, knocking off a weight. Instantly the pain stopped. She could just barely see a blur of blue before everything went black.

 **So, how did you like it? Do you know what fairytales were used for each character, review the answer to me for fun. Also, if you have any chapter ideas review that too please.**


	34. Chapter 34

_**Chapter 34**_

 _ **Rewind time too when the girls are just starting to wake up**_

The order of the cat was searching all over, trying to locate the girls. They weren't in town so they decided to check the forest path. That's when they saw him. A man in a black cloak, actually the same guy who was seen in Amu's room with blood on his face. **(Yes I'm finally answering that question)** He was just beginning to stir. Ikuto hurried to him. Suddenly the man yelled:

"The girls!" He quickly stood up, and looking wildly around.

"Woah, hang in there, what about the girls? Do you mean…" The man looked at Ikuto.

"Yes, the very same girls you are searching for, the two princesses, prisoner, seamstress, and companion." Ikuto grabbed the guys shirt.

"What happened to them?!" Kairi put a hand on Ikuto's shoulder.

"Enough Ikuto, we should let him explain." The man looked away.

"Where do you want me to begin?"

"First, who you are and why you were following the girls."

"Girl, my name is Nikaidou and your parents, well more like your father giving in to your mother, sent me to watch over the girl with pink hair. I was following them to town, when a man appeared and threatened the girls. He suddenly pulled out a smoke bomb, I could just barely see them going in that direction before I was knocked out. Hey! Where are you going?!" Ikuto and the other four were running in the direction Nikaidou had pointed to. Nikaidou quickly ran after them.

After a while of running, they finally reached the town. They went through it as quickly as possible and into the woods beyond. They soon reached the village, and as they approached, they heard screams.

"Amu!" Ikuto yelled. He wildly searched for an entrance, but the only one he could find was the locked gates. That's when Nikaidou pulled out a bag of arrows. Ikuto looked at them, then smiled. The only one who didn't understand was Kukai. Nagihiko rolled his eyes and explained:

"We're going to stick them in the small spots between the bricks to use as a sort of peg, you idiot." Kukai nodded in understanding:

"I knew that, yep. I was only checking to make sure everyone else did." This earned him an eye roll by everyone else. Ikuto took two arrows and shoved them into Kukai's hands. Taking two more arrows for himself, he started to climb the wall.

They were able to stay undetected… until they reached the top of the wall. Unfortunately, being on top of the wall, directly in the villagers' line of sight, caught their attention. They pulled out pitch forks, shovels, and torches from somewhere, the boys had no idea where. They charged the men, thankfully, they had brought swords with them. They jumped down, and fought off the villagers, as they slowly got closer to the house where the screams were coming from. Ikuto's heart bled at the sound of Amu's screams of pain, and her friends' pleas to stop. Ikuto and the others knocked out most of the villagers, and rushed forward.

 _ **Inside the house**_

They were staring at Amu, screaming for her to snap out of it.

"Please! Stop! Take me instead!" They all begged, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. The mayor was just staring at Amu in revolting and sick glee. Amu would occasionally snap out of it and look at the girls, but as time passed, the number of times lessened, along with the strength in how she looked up. She started to grow paler, her breathing got slower and her screams quieter. She started to writhe in her clasps, she was still unable to hear her friends' cries.

That's when it happened, the door smashed open. There stood Ikuto and the other knights. When they burst down the door, the mayor took one look at all of them and fled. Breaking a window in his flight. Ikuto watched after the man for a while then turned his head to Amu. Her head was hanging limply, her skin pale. Ikuto rushed forward, and knocked off the circlet.

"Amu!" He shouted, Amu just barely opened her eyes before they closed again as she fainted. Ikuto unclasped her legs, then undid her arms. She collapsed, but he caught her in his arms. He looked at his friends who were just finishing undoing the ropes around the girls. Yaya was shaking a tad more than the other girls. Kairi hugged the lady to try to calm her down. Bad idea, Yaya latched onto the man and refused to let go. Kairi sighed, and picked her up, cradling her in his arms as he walked out the door.

All the other men, excluding Nikaidou, did the same, and they went home.

 _ **When they reach the castle**_

The queen rushed out of the castle as soon as she saw the group. Completely worried out of her mind.

"This way, gently, gently," she ordered as she led the men to the girl's bedroom. The king watched at the side, thinking deeply:

"This is just the beginning."


End file.
